NSW drilling company with 75 employees collapses

A New South Wales-based mining services company that employs 75 people has been placed in administration.

Deloitte partners Vaughan Neil Strawbridge and Salvatore Algeri were appointed as administrators of Tom Browne Drilling Services on 14 April.

On the same day, Shaun Robert Fraser and Jason Preston from McGrathNicol were appointed as receivers and managers of the company by its secured creditor.

The first meeting of creditors is scheduled to take place in Dubbo, NSW, on 28 April. Meanwhile, McGrathNicol is calling for urgent expressions of interest in the business or its assets.

Tom Browne Drilling Services was established by Browne in 2005 and employs approximately 75 people in Dubbo and Mt Isa in Queensland. Browne is the former owner of Pontil Drilling, which he found in 1976 and sold in the 1990s.

A spokesperson for Deloitte told SmartCompany that the administrators are “continuing their investigations into the affairs of the company and will share their findings with creditors early next month”.

The collapse of Tom Browne Drilling Services follows a number of collapses in the mining services sector in 2013, including the collapse of Queensland-based mining services company MEM in August and Minecorp, which was sold to RMA Group, in August.