Creditors in a panic as Dartbrook Mine calls in administrators over $174m loan default

Australia Broadcast Center

16-07-2025

The creditors of a controversial Hunter Valley mine fear they are set to lose millions of dollars as the venture teeters on the brink of collapse.
Dartbrook Mine, an underground thermal coal joint-venture by Australian Pacific Coal and Tetra Resources, went into external administration earlier this month, plunging the future of its 160 workers and creditors into jeopardy.
On July 3 Australian Pacific Coal announced it had defaulted on a $174-million loan from Singapore-based commodities giant Vitol.
The ABC understands Dartbrook also owes at least several million dollars to other creditors, who say they let their debt run high because never imagined the mine could go under.
One of them, Jim Eastley, a Hunter Valley local, says his business is owed more than $500,000.
Mr Eastley, the co-owner of CE Mining based in Jerrys Plains, says he and his six workers process the coal from the site and ready it for rail transit.
But in the last three months he has not been paid and the amount he is owed has soared.
"It's pretty tough to swallow," Mr Eastley said.
He said a loss of that size might drive his business, which he has been propping up with his own money, into the ground.
The ABC understands that on Tuesday 88 people attended a creditor meeting organised by administrators from Deloitte.
One creditor complained there had been $100,000 worth of damage to his equipment at the Dartbrook site and asked if he would ever recover that money on top of the rest of what he was owed.
Another creditor, Brisbane-based M Resources, lodged a statutory demand on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) website last week to recover a $1,074,006 in debt.
M Resources declined to comment to the ABC.
Muswellbrook Shire Mayor Jeff Drayton said the debts Dartbrook owed were "considerable enough that it might be enough to break some of these smaller companies".
He said half a dozen local businesses with debts exceeding $3m between them had contacted him.
"It's certainly enough to send those companies to the wall," Cr Drayton said.
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Mr Eastley said his company made the "tough decision" to continue working for Dartbrook since receivers took over.
"We're hoping that things can turn around and the mine will become productive … but that's a long way off at the moment," he said.
"[At the moment] cashflow's not very good … I think in the near future we'll have to make a decision whether we keep in business or it's the end of us."
Mr Drayton said Dartbrook also owed the Muswellbrook Shire Council years' worth of unpaid rates.
The mine had been dormant since 2006 until it reopened at the end of last year.
A day after Australian Pacific Coal defaulted on its loan Vitol called in receivers from FTI Consulting to claw back its millions.
In a statement, FTI Consulting said Vitol had appointed receivers to support the "long-term future" of the Dartbrook coal mine.
"We intend to continue operations onsite and work with relevant stakeholders while an urgent assessment of options is undertaken," FTI Consulting receiver Ben Campbell said in the statement.
The ABC can also reveal that the NSW Environmental Protection Agency is investigating Dartbrook following an anonymous report last week about an alleged water spill.
Australian Pacific Coal did not respond to the ABC's requests for comment, but said in a stock market announcement that the mine was still solvent due to its "cash resources".
It also acknowledged shareholders were unlikely to receive any dividend due to its troubled financial situation.
"The company's current working assumption is that there is no value to its interest in the Dartbrook mine," the statement on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) website read.
Australian Pacific Coal briefly suspended trading on the stock market but has since resumed.
Insolvency firm McGrath Nicol has been appointed as administrator to entities relating to Australian Pacific Coal.
Deloitte is the administrator of entities relating to Tetra Resources.
The ABC has contacted Australian Pacific Coal, Deloitte, McGrath Nicol and Vitol for comment.