Zeta Resources (ASX:ZER) has put forward a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) under which it — or one of its subsidiaries — would assume all of the shares in beleaguered Panoramic Resources.
Creditors will consider the proposed DOCA at the second Panoramic creditors’ meeting on Wednesday 2 October.
The conditions precedent to the proposed arrangement must be satisfied or waived by 16 December 2024 or at another date agreed to by Zeta and the deed administrator.
Panoramic was put in the hands of administrators FTI Consulting in December last year as nickel prices deteriorated, and was removed from the ASX last month. The company owns the Savannah Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project in northern Western Australia.
FTI said at the time that “given the company’s status, the costs and administrative burden of remaining listed on the ASX outweighed the benefits of remaining listed,” and opted not to pay the company’s annual listing fees, resulting in automatic de-listing.
Zeta’s DOCA means that unsecured creditors will receive just $0.10 on the dollar, while shareholders are expected to leave empty handed. Outstanding employee entitlements will be paid in full, while a debt owed to commodities trader Trafigura will be restructured.
The company currently owns 15.3% of Panoramic, and FTI Consulting has recommended creditors should vote in favour of Zeta’s proposal.
However, the rescue plan is contingent on WA’s Supreme Court ruling that all payment claims made by mining services contractor Barminco, which had been under contract at the Savannah Project, are classified as unsecured debt, rather than priority debt.
Separate to the DOCA and subject to the satisfaction of the Barminco condition, it is also proposed that Zeta will provide interim funding to certain Panoramic companies of up to $3.35 million to fund agreed operational and certain transaction costs up until the DOCA is implemented.
Write to Oliver Gray at Mining.com.au
Images: Panoramic Resources
