Thistle package gets creditors’ vote (May 16, 2005)

Secured creditors of Thistle Mining (THT-T) have voted in favour of a reorganization plan that would give them 95% of the refinanced company.

A vote in early May received the approval of senior secured debt holders and of noteholders, both of whom had been asked to take stock instead of cash in payment of Thistle’s debt.

The plan calls for Thistle to issue US$23 million in secured notes and issue shares in payment of the rest of the company’s senior secured debt, giving the holders of the debt, who are owed US$57 million, a 70% interest in the company.

Note-holders were asked to take a 25% share in the reorganized company in exchange for cancelling the US$25-million note issue. Unsecured and trade creditors, who are to be paid in full under the reorganization plan, were not affected parties and so did not vote on it.

On May 10, the Ontario Superior Court was to have held a hearing for final approval of the reorganization plan.

At the President Steyn gold mine in South Africa’s Free State, Thistle recently closed down two of its shafts. The increasing value of the South African rand against the U.S. dollar has harmed the cost structure at many South African mines.

Trading in Thistle’s shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange has been suspended since January.