The Dartbrook coal mine in New South Wales has been placed into voluntary administration and receivership after making its return to operations in late 2024.
Situated in the Hunter Valley region, the Dartbrook coal mine is an 80:20 joint venture between Australian Pacific Coal and Tetra Resources.
On July 4, Australian Pacific Coal announced it had appointed Richard Hughes and Timothy Heenan from Deloitte’s strategy, risk and transactions business as voluntary administrators of Dartbrook Operations, the subsidiary in which Australian Pacific Coal operates the mine.
Dartbrook Operations was placed into administration last week after it was unable to repay a $US113.6 million ($175 million) senior secured finance facility with Vitol Asia, a senior lender.
As a result, Vitol appointed FTI Consulting’s Benjamin Campbell and David McGrath as receivers and managers of the Dartbrook mine, which produces thermal coal for electricity generation.
“Because receivers and managers have been appointed to all assets of the Dartbrook mine and given the size of the senior secured debt, it is unlikely that the company will receive any distribution after the conclusion of the receivership and concurrent voluntary administration,” Australian Pacific Coal said.
“As a result, the company’s current working assumption is that there is no value to its interest in the Dartbrook mine.”
As reported by the ABC, the mine will continue to operate for now, with the FTI Consulting receivers to support the “long-term future” of the asset.
“We intend to continue operations onsite and work with relevant stakeholders while an urgent assessment of options is undertaken,” Campbell said.
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