TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Insolvent Canadian miner Great Basin Gold’s subsidiary Rodeo Creek Gold and certain of its affiliates filed for creditor protection under the US Bankruptcy Code Chapter 11 restructuring proceedings in Nevada on Monday.
The company said, through this legal process, Rodeo Creek sought to auction their assets and operations, including the Hollister mine and the Esmeralda mill as a going concern, while stabilising the operations and maintaining employment and current benefits programmes.
The companies said they expected no interruptions in day-to-day business and remain focused on continuing their trial mining operations at the Hollister gold mine and related ore milling at Esmeralda.
Great Basin, which itself is in creditor protection proceedings in Canada, said in order to ensure continued access to funds to maintain operations and pay vendors, the filing would allow the company to seek court approval for a $9-million debtor-in-possession facility.
Great Basin’s embattled South African subsidiary Southgold Exploration in September last year filed for bankruptcy protection under the South African business rescue procedures.
The announcement followed short on the heels of its parent suspending all mining operations at the Burnstone mine in the country’s Witwatersrand basin, citing its inability to afford the mine’s required working capital to reach cash-flow break even by May this year.