One of the criticisms of the rule is that it can allow “political” actions against sitting boards and that is what appears to have happened with Rey.

Its Chinese-linked 23% shareholder, ASF Group, was a key player in the remuneration report being knocked back a second time.

ASF also requisitioned a special meeting of Rey shareholders to remove executive director strategy Maree Arnason, and independent non-executive directors Ronnie Beevor and Brett Clark. In their place, ASF wants to appoint Dachun Zhang as a director.

Rey chairman Charlie Lenegan and independent non-executive director Lex Graefe were also up for re-election at the AGM.

Before the AGM day dawned, Lenegan and Graefe were gone, conceding that the votes were against them.

That voting trend continued at the AGM, with its remuneration report being voted down, just as it had been at the 2011 AGM.

The big difference between the two was that in 2011 Rey had proposed its non-executive directors be given shares as part of their remuneration. Institutional investors are not big fans of this approach. They prefer non-execs to be paid in cash.

Those shareholders voted their shares accordingly and the remuneration report was voted down.

In its defence, Rey felt it wanted to preserve its cash – it is a junior explorer.

This time around, there was no suggestion of any such share package for non-executive directors.

The remuneration report was voted down again.

Interestingly, ASF Group chairwoman Min Yang – who also was made a Rey director at the AGM – voted against it.

This means that ASF gets two bites at restructuring the board.

Despite the corporate turmoil, the presence of ASF on the Rey board and its share register should be a benefit.

ASF’s Chinese links are no doubt going to prove crucial as Rey looks to develop its Duchess Paradise coal project.

That project, in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, is relatively close to the port of Derby.

Shipping the coal to China would be the obvious step.