Jervois Global and certain subsidiaries - Voluntary Administration

Jervois Global, a Melbourne-headquartered cobalt miner company listed on the ASX, Canada’s TSX-V market and the US OTC market, and certain subsidiaries entered voluntary administration on 12 March, with Gayle Dickerson and David Hardy of KPMG appointed as administrators.

The company’s main assets include a cobalt mine in Idaho, US, the Nico Young nickel and cobalt deposit in NSW, Australia, a production facility in Finland, and a nickel and cobalt refinery in São Paulo, Brazil.

The company has struggled over the last few years due to plummeting cobalt prices, lower than expected electric vehicle sales and competition from China’s CMOC Group.

In 2023, Jervois idled its Idaho mine and laid off 250 workers, which the company’s CEO said would not be viable until cobalt prices essentially double.

The administrators’ appointment was anticipated as the next step of a restructuring support agreement agreed with the company’s lender, Millstreet Capital Management, and the approval by the US Bankruptcy Court of a Chapter 11 plan of reorganisation of certain Jervois entities. The plan contemplates a recapitalisation agreement with Millstreet Capital, including a US$145 equity injection and US$125 million debt-to-equity conversion, which will result in Jervois becoming a private group.

The administrators are operating the companies while assessing their financial position. Millstreet intends to propose a DOCA in the administration reflecting the terms of the Chapter 11 plan.