LIQUIDATORS have left the door open to a push to revive a company in its death throes following the collapse of gold mining in Bendigo.
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A federal court ordered GBM Gold into liquidation last Friday following months of uncertainty after one of its subsidiaries lost all hope of keeping its licences to a series of Bendigo mine sites.
That subsidiary itself went into liquidation last April.
GBM Gold's collapse has become the postscript in the final chapter of 170 years of mining of gold seams that run under the city.
The company or some of its subsidiaries could rise from the ashes, though, according to liquidator Matthew Kucianski of solvency firm Worrells.
"I'm dealing with a group of shareholders who want to, if possible, find a way to revive broader operations," he said.
"Now, as to whether that is likely to transpire is something that will likely take a few weeks to work out."
It is still too early to know how any plan would work. GBM Gold itself does not hold any mining or exploration licences in Victoria.
Its subsidiaries hold the rights to land across a stretch of land north of Bendigo, including an open pit mine near Dunolly called Harvest Home.
Back in 2020, GBM Gold told its shareholders that Harvest Home was "shovel-ready", potentially making one of the more lucrative targets for anyone hoping to salvage something out of GBM Gold's collapse.
Liquidators are not the only decision makers who could make key decisions on GBM Gold or its subsidiaries.
State mining authority Earth Resources Regulation were already preparing to review two exploration licenses that subsidiaries held before GBM Gold's demise.
The licences will expire over the next 17 months, the regulator's executive director Anthony Hurst said.
He declined to comment on the future of any licences associated with GBM Gold's subsidiaries.
"It would not be appropriate to comment on the company's financial standing at this time," he said.
Earth Resources revoked another GBM subsidiary's licences to Bendigo sites in 2019 over concerns about its ability to pay down debts and fund future works.
That decision triggered a series of events that culminated in former company chief executive John Harrison forcing his old company's liquidation through action at the federal court.
The Bendigo Advertiser understands the case centred on a debt GBM Gold owed Mr Harrison.
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