The founder and director of a company behind new plans to use UK onshore gas for bitcoin mining, has resigned.

John Hodgins, a Canadian geologist, left the Rathlin Energy board on 1 April 2026, according to the official Companies House register.

He had been a director since January 2008.

Rathlin operates two sites in Holderness, East Yorkshire, at West Newton-A and B.

The company’s majority investor, Reabold Resources, has proposed using gas from the sites to generate electricity for crypto currency transactions. See DrillOrDrop report from August 2025

Mr Hodgins is the chief executive of Connaught Oil & Gas Ltd, Rathlin’s former parent company, based in Calgary, Canada.

He has worked in western Canada, the North Sea, China, the US and Australia, as well onshore in the UK.

Before joining Connaught, he held positions in eight different oil and gas companies.

Rathlin’s most recent accounts, for the year ending 31 December 2024, reported that Mr Hodgins held 427,272 ordinary shares and 272,000 share purchase options.

In the past two years, two other directors have resigned, Howard Mayson (April 2024) and Paul McGarvey (May 2025), as well as Rathlin’s auditor. Paul Harris joined the board in March 2025.

Earlier this month, an environmental campaigner took the first steps in a legal challenge to the approval by the Environment Agency of lower-volume fracking at West Newton-A.