Ann: Gascoyne Resources Update, page-16

https://thewest.com.au/business/min...ators-plan-to-refloat-gascoyne-ng-b881589187z

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NRW backs administrator’s plan to refloat Gascoyne
Stuart McKinnonThe West Australian
Thursday, 25 June 2020 5:29PM
Stuart McKinnon

Creditors of Gascoyne Resources have approved a revised deed of company arrangement put up by administrators of the failed gold miner that offers improved terms for mining contractor NRW Holdings and unsecured creditors.

After nearly four hours of discussion and deliberations yesterday, creditors led by NRW voted against adjourning the meeting for the administrators to consider an alternative proposal from Chinese gold miner Hanking Australia.

Administrator FTI Consulting had originally recommended a deed of company arrangement and refinancing proposal, whereby secured creditors would be repaid in full and unsecured creditors would also receive up to 100¢ in the dollar.

The plan hinges on a successful $70-$80 million equity raising to refloat Gascoyne and relist it on the ASX.

However under the revised proposal, NRW will get $7m instead of $4m in upfront payments with $12m paid in shares in the refloated miner and the balance of debt paid over time from operational cash flows.

The revised proposal also provided for unsecured creditors to receive all monies owed within six months instead of those owed more than $10,000 having to wait up to five years.

The agreement effectively ends designs by Hanking to secure up to a 30 per cent stake in Gascoyne via a convertible note issue as part of its own plan to refloat the failed miner and satisfy creditors.

Hanking had proposed a $16m loan, yesterday upped to $30m, to Gascoyne that would allow NRW to be paid $10m upfront and unsecured creditors to be paid all they were owed within two months.

Argonaut executive director Matt Selby, who has been working with Hanking, said it was disappointing that NRW had failed to engage over the company’s plans and voted against a proposal which he believed was “clearly superior”.

A last minute proposal put forward by Habrok Mining and backed by investment giant BlackRock did not feature prominently at the meeting.

That proposal involved the Simon Raftery-led Habrok putting up $80 million to meet debt the obligations of the failed miner, thereby enabling it to take Gascoyne private.

Gascoyne collapsed in June last year, citing a material cashflow shortage because of production difficulties at its flagship Dalgaranga mine.

However, FTI last week trumpeted an operational turnaround at the mine which it said would allow the company to be refloated on the ASX.