PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Embattled nickel miner Mirabela Nickel has expressed concern regarding its ability to continue as a going concern, amid the British Columbia Securities Commission issuing a cease trade order.

The cease trade order against ASX- and TSX-listed Mirabela was a result of the company not filing its interim unaudited financial statements for the third quarter by November 14. The order would remain effective until the default interim filings were filed in Canada.

Mirabela has previously reported that one of its two customers, Votorantim Metals, had provided notice that it would terminate its sales agreement with the firm by the end of November, despite the fact that the contract was expected to run until the end of 2014.

Votorantim subsequently confirmed that the termination of the sales agreement was invalid, and that it remained committed to a minimum level of concentrate deliveries for October and November, and that it intended to comply with its obligations under the sales agreement until the end of 2014.

However, the customer has claimed an event of force majeure under the sales agreement, and as such was not currently obligated to purchase nickel concentrate from Mirabela.

Mirabela said that it was taking legal advice regarding the claimed force majeure, and in particular the status of this when Votorantim closes its smelter at the end of November, and ceases trying to remedy the cause of the claimed force majeure.

The company added that the issues with Votorantim had place significant stress on the Santa Rita nickel mine, in Brazil, and Mirabela’s debt structure.

The miner said it was looking at ways to restructure its current debt to reduce the burden on the company, but noted that any restructuring of the debt would be complex, spanning across legal, financial, commercial and operational frameworks in three jurisdictions.

As such, any potential restructuring would have a high level of execution risk.

Mirabela said that no assurances could be given that any definitive agreements or arrangements would be reached with any party.

As a result, the company has defaulted on its interim filing obligations, and was currently not able to estimate asset value and prepare financial statements with any confidence of accuracy.

Following legal advice, Mirabela expected to be able to remedy the default interim filings within 30 days.