Calidus Resources’ flagship Warrawoona gold mine will be moved to care and maintenance, weeks after the company was placed in the hands of receivers by creditor Macquarie Bank.
Calidus Resources’ flagship Warrawoona gold mine will be moved to care and maintenance, weeks after the company was placed in the hands of receivers by creditor Macquarie Bank.
In a statement issued today, KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker and John Bumbak revealed Calidus’ producing Pilbara asset would be mothballed.
A campaign to process run-of-mine stock will be carried out over the coming 12 days, ahead of a three-week transition to care and maintenance.
A dual-tracked recapitalisation and sale process is also underway.
Warrawoona produced 15,118 ounces of gold in the March quarter, in a record-high Australian gold price environment where spot prices averaged just shy of $3,400 per ounce.
But the gold was produced at an all-in sustaining cost of $2,429/oz, and the company held a substantial hedgebook of 78,000 ounces of gold at a weighted average sale price of $2,367/oz.
Calidus achieved an average gold sale price of $2,859/oz during the period.
Calidus owed Macquarie $61 million at the end of the March quarter and had $12.4 million in the bank.
The debt led to the appointment receivers to three of six Calidus entities on June 28, with administrators appointed accross the board by company management on the same day.
The entities in receivership are Calidus Resources Limited and subsidiaries Keras (Pilbara) and Calidus Blue Spec.
Calidus subsidiaries Keras (Gold), Calidus Otways and Millenium Minerals remain under the sole control of administrators Hayden White and Daniel Woodhouse of FTI Consulting.
Calidus acquired Millenium Minerals and the Nullagine gold project late last year from Canadian-listed Novo Gold Corp. The future of Nullagine remains unclear.
In June released a resource for the project with the aim of restarting production by the first quarter of next year.
In doing so it highlighted the potential for Nullagine to diversify its production with unhedged ounces.
When appointed, FTI said it was undertaking an urgent assessment of Nullagine with a view to selling or recapitalising the project.
Calidus shares are currently suspended.
