Embattled Avocet Mining on Friday said it would hold a general meeting in London, on August 15, to seek shareholders’ approval of certain resolutions that would be required for the company’s proposed voluntary liquidation.

The purpose of the general meeting, the miner explained, was to consider and, if appropriate, pass the suggested resolutions, which were each conditional on the approval of the other resolution.

Firstly, Avocet is seeking approval for the company to be placed into a members’ voluntary liquidation and that the joint liquidators be authorised to distribute to the members in specie or in kind the whole or any part of the assets of the company.

Secondly, it is recommending that Paul Williams and Geoffrey Bouchier of Duff & Phelps, be appointed joint liquidators of the company.

For the first resolution to be passed, it must be approved by members representing 75% of the total votes cast at the meeting, while the second resolution will need to be approved by members representing the majority of the total votes.

Earlier this month, Avocet temporarily withdrew a resolution that was to be put to shareholders at a then-upcoming general meeting for the proposed voluntary liquidation of the company. The decision to withdraw the resolution followed at the request of some of the shareholders.

Avocet had initially planned to discuss possible outcomes for the company, including being broken up in an orderly manner and eventually wound up, at its annual general meeting on July 18.

At the time, it said that, given the amount of debt owed by Avocet, there would be minimal or no returns to shareholders and advised that its secured creditor Manchester Securities Corporation had released the company from its $32-million in loans overdue since 2013, against the payment of almost all of the $21-million in proceeds from Avocet’s sale of its Tri-K asset.

Avocet had also transferred to the creditor $2.5-million in deferred consideration for the sale of its assets in Burkina Faso, payable by the Balaji group of companies over five years from June 2020.

The only asset left of the company was the remaining proceeds of the disposal of the Tri-K assets, which Avocet used to pay transaction costs and to settle some outstanding debts.

The company said last month that its residual cash resources provided headroom only for a few weeks of running costs.

Avocet also confirmed that its board members were open to, in the short term, exploring viable investment opportunities for the company, but stressed that such opportunities would have to be accompanied by new sources of funding.

However, Avocet on Friday said that, considering that no viable opportunities were presented or progressed significantly, the company was again seeking to obtain the approval of the resolutions required for a members’ voluntary liquidation to be implemented, to avoid an insolvent liquidation.