JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Santa Rita mine of collapsed Australian junior Mirabela Nickel in Brazil has failed to attract an acceptable bid, resulting in the company being placed in liquidation.
Receivers of Mirabela, which entered administration in September last year, started a sale process for the mine in October last year, but the company reported on Wednesday that the process did not result in any offers that were capable of acceptance.
The receivers had also engaged in negotiations with an ad hoc group of noteholder of Mirabela to reach an agreement for a noteholder bid for the Australian company’s shareholding in Mirabela Mineração do Brasil (MMB), but that too failed to deliver an acceptable outcome.
Mirabela stated that, following the appointment of liquidators on Monday, receivers had resumed negotiations to sell the company’s assets.
The base metals miner, which came under pressure because of a 60% nickel prices last year, only had A$150 000 of available cash, while its Brazilian subsidiary, MMB, had a cash balance of $5.5-million.
The operations in Brazil have been placed on care and maintenance in April, with sufficient cash available to cover care and maintenance costs until September.
Mirabela has closed its Perth head office and laid off all its staff, with the exception of the CEO, Maryse Belanger, who was based in Brazil and who had resigned from her position last week.
Several senior executives continued to be employed by MMB in Brazil, including CFO Milson Mundim.