Judgment finds those behind a disputed mine share transfer chose appointee
The Federal Court has removed the liquidator of the former parent company of a Tasmanian gold mine’s operators, finding that a fair-minded observer might reasonably doubt the appointee’s impartiality.
The court made the orders and handed down its reasons on 10 November 2026 in Goshawk Mining Pty Ltd v Hellyer Metals Pty Ltd, in the matter of Hellyer Metals Pty Ltd (in liq) [2026] FCA 1676. It appointed a new liquidator to Hellyer Metals and ordered the outgoing liquidator to hand over all company books and records.
Goshawk Mining Pty Ltd sued Hellyer Metals in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in December 2023, claiming $36.4 million in damages over a failed $25 million deal for a tin mine business. Hellyer Metals defended the claim and counterclaimed. On 5 November 2025, Hellyer Metals transferred its only assets, shares in its subsidiaries, to Celestial Pacific Group Pty Ltd (Celestial Group), a company incorporated that day. In January 2026, Hellyer Metals entered voluntary liquidation.
Goshawk Mining and a second creditor, Saxby Capital Investments Pty Ltd, applied to remove the liquidator, who argued that their disputed, contingent claims gave them no standing. The court disagreed, holding that the strict test for who may apply to wind up a company did not decide who held a financial interest in a liquidation under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Because both were entitled to lodge proofs of debt, both had standing.
The court found that the people behind the share transfer had appointed the liquidator, who then retained as his solicitor the lawyer who had introduced them. It said that these matters raised “acute questions of a lack of independent judgment.”
The liquidator’s time records showed 30.35 hours of investigative work between January and May 2026, including 12 minutes on litigation funding. He did not use his statutory powers to obtain the company’s records, including its Xero accounting records. He also invited the directors and the former general counsel to comment on a draft of his report to creditors, which the court called “a serious error of judgment.”
From March 2026, the two companies offered to discuss funding an investigation, but the court found that the liquidator failed to engage meaningfully. After this proceeding began, he signed a funding agreement that stemmed from an approach by lawyers for two bankrupt former directors. The court identified an obvious conflict between creditors’ interests and those of the former directors.
His report suggested that recovery action would likely destroy the value of the transferred assets. The court said that his duty “most certainly was not to preserve the value of the assets in the hands of Celestial Group.”
Goshawk Mining and Saxby Capital had deposited $200,000 to fund a replacement liquidator. The court will decide costs on written submissions.
