The 4000 shareholders who hold stock in cashbox Moly Mines have been left in limbo after the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday refused to allow the company to re-list over concerns about majority shareholder Hanlong Mining.
Moly has been suspended from trading since mid-2014, after completion of mining at its Spinifex Ridge iron ore project because ASX rules do not allow trading in companies that have no core business and simply hold cash.
Since then, the company looked for a new mining project in which to tip its $61 million war chest, eventually settling on a tilt at Queensland bauxite developer Gulf Alumina.
But a bidding war with rival buyer Metro Mining appears to have been stalled by the ASX, with Moly complaining yesterday the ASX was refusing to allow it to re-list while 53 per cent owner Hanlong remained on its register.
The privately owned Hanlong group was once on the cusp of becoming a significant player in the Australian mining sector, taking a major stake in Moly and floating takeover bids for African iron ore developer Sundance Resources and uranium play Bannerman Resources.
But Hanlong’s bid came to nothing. Moly put its $1 billion Spinifex Ridge molybdenum project on ice in 2011. Hanlong’s $1.4 billion tilt at Sundance collapsed in 2013 after founder Liu Han was arrested by Beijing authorities on charges of racketeering and worse. Two of Hanlong’s most senior Australian executives were jailed for insider trading.
Moly chairman Nelson Chen was caught up in the insider trading allegations, but was not charged with any offence.
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