Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The falling iron-ore price has claimed another casualty, with junior Western Desert going into voluntary administration.
The Australian miner, which owns the Roper Bar project in Northern Territory, said on Monday that it had failed to secure ongoing financial support from banker Macquarie Bank.
The ASX-listed Western Desert had been in ongoing negotiations with Macquarie regarding the restructure of project finance facility terms, debt repayment profile and short-term working capital funding requirements.
Macquarie withdrew its offer for short-term financial support, and refused Western Desert access to some A$7-million hedge proceeds pertaining to the company’s July and August shipments.
This resulted in Western Desert suspending share trading as it sought alternative funding arrangements, but the miner said this week that while it had received significant interest for funds, firm commitments had not yet been obtained.
As a result, Western Desert’s directors had appointed an administrator.
In June, the company announced that it had increased mining volumes at Roper Bar by 50% during May, to 229 0000 t, as the pit-to-port logistics were ramped up. The project was expected to initially produce at a rate of 1.5-million tonnes a year, and would ramp-up to three-milllion tonnes a year by 2016.