Rockwell Diamonds – suspended from trade in Johannesburg and Toronto – has filed for business rescue to stave off attempts by a contractor to liquidate the company, says a BusinessLIVE report. Rockwell had an interim liquidation order awarded against it in March by the Northern Cape High Court (Kimberley) after which it applied for trade in its shares to be suspended.

Rockwell argued that the judge did not consider its arguments in hearing the liquidation case brought against its three subsidiaries by C-Rock Mining and has asked that the final hearing, set down for June, be brought forward on an urgent basis. ‘The interim order was issued after a short hearing where none of the company’s rebuttal evidence was considered by the court,’ Rockwell said.

‘The company remains persuaded that its case for dismissal of the liquidation application is sound, and after a full hearing it believes it should prevail and C-Rock Mining’s actions will be shown to be spurious and without foundation.’ Interim liquidators have been appointed but have not taken over any management roles while the legal process continues, the company added. To prevent the liquidation of Rockwell, management has filed an application to put it into business rescue and give its strategy to turn the loss-making company to profit a chance of success.

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