An iron ore company in Western Australia’s East Kimberley has been put into voluntary administration only six months after restarting the mothballed Ridges mine, 165 kilometres south of Kununurra.
At a meeting of creditors held on February 25, administrators from KordaMentha were appointed to Gold Valley Iron Ore (GVI), which was given the right to mine the Ridges iron ore deposit owned by Kimberly Metals Group in a deal last year.
It is understood work at Ridges stopped last week while administrators assessed the financial position of its operators from Gold Valley.
KordaMentha partner Richard Tucker said early indications were that the company had racked up about $10 million of debt, and that local contractors had been left out of pocket.
“Our role since our appointment has been focused on trying to find a solution to recommence operations, such that local…