Continuing legal action

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The head of one-time coal high-flyer Atrum Coal has vowed to push on with its legal actions against its co-founders, in a sign that the company’s recent civil war is not over.

The incumbent board earlier this month saw off an attempted spill from Atrum co-founder Gino D’Anna, with Mr D’Anna’s proposal attracting little support outside of his business partner and co-founder Russell Moran.

Both Mr D’Anna and Mr Moran — who hold a combined 22 per cent stake in Atrum — left in acrimonious circumstances last year, and are the subject of legal action from the company over plans to establish a new venture on the doorstep of Atrum’s flagship Groundhog anthracite deposit in Canada.

While Mr D’Anna has described the litigation against him as a distraction, Atrum managing director Bob Bell said the court actions would continue.

“We do have litigation under way, I don’t want to comment on the specifics of the litigation other than to say the company will continue to pursue vigorously its defence and the best interests of the company,” Mr Bell said.

The ugly saga appears to be weighing on the share price of Atrum, which was the best-performed IPO of 2013 after shooting from 20c a share to $2. It has since been steadily drifting south and currently sits at around 45c.

Mr Bell said seeing off the recent extraordinary general meeting would clear the way for Atrum to focus on discussions over Groundhog. The deposit is described as the world’s largest undeveloped deposit of anthracite, a premium form of coal particularly sought after by steel mills.
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