TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Triple-listed gold miner Besra on Monday celebrated formal notification from the Vietnamese Finance Ministry that export tax assessments totalling $12-million against Bong Mieu Gold Mining Company and Phuoc Son Gold Company had been repealed.

The tax assessment had been hanging over the company for more than a year and had caused the company significant hardship, impairing its capacity to import supplies and equipment, as well as prohibiting it from exporting gold.

“… the $120-million negative assessment kept investors away and limited our access to credit facilities. With the ruling now behind us, we can now rebuild our production in Vietnam,” Besra CEO John Seton said.

The note holders of Besra have issued a notice to cure after the miner defaulted on a near C$7-million payment.

Besra had been given 30 days to cure the default, and noted that if it was unable to raise the necessary funds within that timeframe, or to negotiate an extension with the holders of its 9% unsecured convertible redeemable notes, the company would be forced to consider a restructuring.

Besra said that in order to fund priority operational expenses while the company pursued its financing initiatives, the company had issued three-month secured promissory notes, in an aggregate amount of $150 000, to three lenders which previously accepted promissory notes aggregating $300 000.

ASX-, TSX- and Frankfurt-listed Besra had previously downgraded its gold production expectations for the 2014 financial year to between 40 000 oz and 45 000 oz, after missing its second-quarter production targets.

Production at the Phuoc Son plant, in Vietnam, was averaging around 70 oz/d after an extended period of limited production owing to severe weather conditions and a disputed export tax assessment, which would be finalised in the next few days.

Production at the Bong Mieu mine was still suspended following a series of severe weather incidents late last year, and an insurance claim of more than $4-million had been lodged for typhoon damage and the resultant loss of income.

“With this decision having been considered at all levels of government, including local tax authorities, the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister's office, we are heartened that Besra and its operations at Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu in central Vietnam continue to have the full support of the government,” Seton said.

Bong Mieu production would restart from Thursday.