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ew companies emerge from
Fvoluntary administration with
an outlook as prosperous as
the one Richard Hay believes
Gascoyne Resources Ltd now
has in front of it. In fact, very
few companies emerge from
voluntary administration at all.

little more than 12 months after the resource at Dalgaranga was underper-
A first gold bar was produced from its forming.
Dalgaranga mine, about 65km west of Mt “One of the key messages that I con-
Magnet, Gascoyne called in seasoned veyed to the administrators early on was
administrators FTI Consulting in June that if we could get through to January
2019 after the then board conceded op- 2020 we would be just starting to come
erations would not generate enough cash into the fresh rock of the Gilbey’s main
flow to see the company through to the zone and if we could get to that point that
end of the year. would give us the foundation with which
While Dalgaranga remained opera- we could recap this operation, this com-
tional on a “break even or better basis” pany and come out the other side,” Hay
through the voluntary administration pe- told Paydirt.
riod – some production was viewed as a “We had been consistently producing
more favourable outcome for creditors above 6,000 ozpm up until then and we
than liquidating the company and putting have been ever since January last year,
the mine on care-and-maintenance – so that was the turning point for the op-
many in the industry believed Gascoyne eration. It was all about getting consist-
had next to no chance of being recapi- ency, reliability and better grade material
talised. out of the fresh rock of the Gilbey’s main
Hay was not part of that chorus of zone. We just needed that protected time
doubters. Six months after joining the in administration to have a chance of
company in January 2019 as executive coming out in the recap, which we did.”
general manager of operations, he was Gascoyne was officially reinstated to
tasked with leading what many said was the ASX on October 21 last year after
an impossible recovery mission. This successfully pulling together a $125 mil-
was compounded by the fact that fellow lion recapitalisation package which was
West Australian gold producers Eastern comprised of a fully underwritten $85
Goldfields, Millennium Minerals and Da- million equity raising and a $40 million,
cian Gold Ltd were also on life support. three-year amortising debt facility with
With the future of both company and Investec Bank. This also came on the
mine resting firmly on his broad shoul- back of consistent ounces being regu-
ders, Hay left no stone unturned in his larly churned from Dalgaranga.
quest to not only maintain consistent gold Hay was then formally appointed man-
production from Dalgaranga but carve aging director of Gascoyne as part of a
out a sustainable future for an operation new board chaired by former Northern
yet to deliver on its perceived potential. Minerals Ltd boss George Bauk and sup-
Hay worked closely with FTI senior ported by veteran mining engineer Row-
managing director Michael Ryan, who an Johnston as a non-executive director.
he described as “one of the rare admin- Shares in the company have held firm
istrators that really wanted to see if we around the relisting price of 56c despite
could continue operating” while in volun- the recent retraction in the gold price.
tary administration, to establish why the Full-year production from Dalgaran-

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT aPRIL 2021 Page 21