First Nickel goes into receivership: Lockerby Mine closed after company's lenders demand repayment.

• Author: Migneault, Jonathan
• Position: MINING

First Nickel Inc. has gone into receivership, the company confirmed in an Aug. 20 press release. Employees at the company's Lockerby Mine in Sudbury were reportedly turned away when arriving to work at the gate and told the mine was closed.

After a poor financial showing the first quarter of 2015, where the company lost $33.1 million, its main lender, Resource Capital Fund V L.P., demanded repayment of all of the obligations owed to it by First Nickel.

Resource Capital Fund V L.P. issued a notice of intention to enforce its security under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and has put forward an application to appoint KSV Kofman Inc. as a receiver of First Nickel.

The application was to be heard today in Toronto at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

In law, a receiver is responsible for the property and assets of a company that has failed to meet its financial obligations, or has gone bankrupt.

The receiver may run the company in order to maximize the value of the company's assets, sell the company as a whole, or sell part of the company and close unprofitable divisions.

Anne-Marie Maclnnis, president of Mine Mill Local 598/Unifor, which represents First Nickel's workers at Lockerby Mine, said the company has already appointed a four-person salvage crew to recover mine equipment.

MacInnis said an official with First Nickel assured her the mine employees received any wages and vacation pay owed to them.

Maclnnis said because the mine had only been open for around 10 years, employees did not yet qualify for the 30-year pension plan, but add ed the plan was portable, and could continue at another...