Silver Lake chases BNM cash
Jarrod Lucas - The West Australian on March 7, 2016, 1:33 pm
Silver Lake chases BNM cash.
Gold miner Silver Lake Resources heads a list of creditors seeking to recoup almost $16 million from Perth-based BNM Australia Group which has been in liquidation since December.
BNM, co-founded in 2014 by managing director Cameron McLeod and technical director Steven Parnell, was the private consortium that leased Silver Lake’s Tuckabianna mill in the Murchison last year.
Documents by liquidator DCS Advisory show 161 creditors are seeking $15.97 million, including Silver Lake ( $7.64 million).
West Perth outfit Hodges Resources is the second-biggest creditor with a $1.2 million claim, followed by Resource Mining ($817,781), Aggreko Generator Rentals ($789,060) and Resourcing Central ($690,484).
Gold miner Doray Minerals is $467,500 out of pocket after being linked to BNM via its successful takeover of Mutiny Gold last year. Mutiny did a deal for tailings and a mining agreement for the White Wells prospect.
Goldfields fuel supplier Eagle Petroleum, which took BNM to the WA Supreme Court in December, is seeking unpaid debts of $444,937.
Skippers Aviation ($112,232) and Liam Twigger’s PCF Capital Group ($88,357) are other high-profile creditors.
Documents show that BNM is made up of three shareholders with private vehicles Mine Builder and Mining Central owned by the founding directors. The first creditors meeting will be held at the West Perth offices of DCS Advisory on March 22.
BNM did not oppose the appointment of liquidators in December, but its directors have argued the company has “significant claims” for financial compensation against unnamed third parties.
Mr Parnell said it was for the liquidator to decide if those claims should be pursued.
BNM — backed by US metal merchant Auramet Trading — took up a 10-month lease at Tuckabianna to process gold tailings in January last year.
BNM’s Murchison project was initially based on 18 months of mining and processing with an expected net present value of $45 million to $50 million. The first gold pour, scheduled for February, did not occur until early May, the month the financiers issued default notices to BNM.
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