A co-founder and president of True North Gems has resigned to focus on a private gem manufacturing company he has started, True North's chair and chief executive officer said today.

Andrew Smith said Bernie Gaboury found it was too difficult to advance the interests of his private company, Terra Nova Gems, while serving as a senior executive with the publicly traded True North Gems.

It was an 'amicable' departure, Smith said in an interview today from Vancouver.

Gaboury, who is known to many as the primary promoter of True North in the Yukon, retains a two-per-cent interest in the company, with 425,000 shares.

The company issued a press release today announcing Gaboury's resignation and the appointment of gemologist William Rohtert as the new chief operating officer.

'True North would like to acknowledge Mr. Gaboury's central role in the founding and development of the company over the past three years and wishes him every success with his new business,' reads the press release.

Gaboury could not be reached this morning for comment.

Smith said Rohtert, as far as he knows, is the only gemologist in North America with previous experience managing a bulk-sampling exploration program for coloured gemstones.

Rohtert, he said, will be in charge this summer of True North's $2.2-million bulk-sampling and exploration drill program at the company's Regal Ridge emerald property in the Finlayson Lake district.

'As much as we will miss him (Gaboury), Rohtert is a real solid guy to bring on stream here,' Smith said. 'He has some real pedigree.'

Rohtert has worked with the company in the past on the Regal Ridge project, and True North had gone to some length to have him recognized by the stock exchange as a gemologist qualified to provide independent analysis of emeralds recovered by True North.

The company may have to search for another independent gemologist to provide the analysis, or simply continue with plans to eventually put its finished gems up for sale and let the market establish the value, Smith explained.

He said it's still the company's intent to complete its preliminary assessment of the potential for Regal Ridge by the end of the year. As part of the assessment, the company is going to have to establish a value for its product, he said.

Smith said results of the preliminary assessment will set out what work needs to be done next year. And by the end of 2005, True North Gems will be in a position to say whether an emerald mine at Regal Ridge is feasible, he said.

He said True North believes Regal Ridge holds commercial potential but its more a matter of determining what size of an operation is appropriate.

The chair of the board noted that while the exploration budget for Regal Ridge is set at the same level as last year, all of it will be dedicated to the bulk sampling work, drilling and processing.

Last year, he pointed out, a good chunk of the money was used to build infrastructure like the airstrip.

True North halted trading in late January for a day after Gaboury told the Star in an interview the company had postponed plans to auction off its emeralds to establish some sort of value.

Gaboury said back then that yields from gem cutters were not what the company had expected, and that True North wanted to postpone its auction to further explore other gem cutting options.

The share price subsequently fell from $1.02 to 75 cents in two days. It was trading late this morning at 83 cents.

The company also has plans to conduct more exploration work on other gem property, such as the $250,000 it plans to spend on its Baffin Island sapphire property.