The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition Pretium shareholders were rattled on Wednesday after Strathcona Mineral Services resigned from its role as "qualified person" on a sampling program for the Brucejack project. The Post's Peter Koven writes the move cast a cloud over the Northern B.C. project, and Pretium shares plunged 30.5 per cent. Strathcona was brought in as an independent consultant to oversee and report on Pretium's bulk sample project. Strathcona is known for its conservative and disciplined approach. Pretium chief executive officer Robert Quartermain downplayed the resignation and maintained the Brucejack project is on track. "We're in a situation where we have a disagreement between two qualified persons with regards to reconciling the bulk sample with the resource estimate we have," he told the Post. The situation highlights the unique role of the qualified person in assessing mining projects. They have an enormous impact on how projects are interpreted by investors, but do not always agree among themselves on how data should be interpreted. Pretium hired both Strathcona and Snowden Mining to do independent work on the Valley of the Kings discovery within the Brucejack project.