Navan Mining said yesterday it had gone into receivership after failing to secure finance to ensure its survival. Navan had concluded that no further sources of funding were available and there was no reasonable prospect of avoiding an insolvent liquidation. It decided it should cease trading immediately.

Navan, whose main assets are two gold mines in Bulgaria, said its main banker Deutsche Bank had appointed Mr Alan Hudson and Mr David Duggins of Ernst & Young in the UK as administrative receivers to the company.

Navan switched its domicile to Britain two years ago but retained a secondary listing on the Irish Stock Exchange. The company's board has been in discussions with Deutsche Bank and potential investors on the provision of a bridging facility. The loan aimed tide the firm over, pending completion of a proposed equity raising which the board believed would have ensured its survival.

But Navan said Deutsche Bank notified the firm on Friday that the proposals were not acceptable to it and it was no longer prepared to support the company going forward. Shares in Navan were suspended on the Irish and London exchanges at 1.275p on Friday pending clarification of the firm's working capital position.

Navan first ran into difficulties last year when its Spanish operations were hit by the collapse in the world zinc price and a fall in the local market for sulphuric acid.

The problems became critical in October 2001 when Enron, with which Navan had a financing deal related to the sale of concentrates to smelters, collapsed.