I expect that the company was planning to do exactly what you said when they called a trading halt and then produced the revised transition-to-production plan. The plan stated that they would need funding, and that the next step would be to obtain funding.
Then the ASX dropped their query letter.
There was absolutely no way that the company could return to trading or approach the market for additional capital without providing satisfactory answers to the ASX. Maybe they tried and failed to satisfy the ASX. Maybe they didn't try because it was too hard to come up with an adequate excuse. We have no way of knowing.
But with their hands tied they had little choice but to go into administration and hand over the business to KPMG.
And with so much risk an so much money tied up in the business the creditors decided their best option was to appoint receivers and hand over the business to Korda Mentha.
This story is purely my inferences as an outsider. I have no inside information.
SO4 Price at posting:
31.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
