Padbury's Oakajee deal terminated

Less than three weeks after announcing it had secured $US6.47 billion ($6.89 billion) in equity funding to construct a port and rail network at Oakajee, junior explorer Padbury Mining says the deal is now dead.

In an announcement to the market after the close of trade today, Padbury said it had terminated a funding agreeement with entities associated with hair regrowth entrepreneur Roland Bleyer.

Mr Bleyer was also linked to a collapsed $260 million joint venture funding deal for junior explorer FairStar Resources last year.

The termination of the deal comes after Padbury missed several self-imposed deadlines to reveal further details of the massive funding agreement.

Padbury's original funding announcement earlier this month did not contain any information on the identity of its backers or their capacity to provide the funds.

The company's shares skyrocketed in a brief window of trade following the announcement but the company entered a trading halt later that day as ASIC and the ASX demanded further details of the deal.

Padbury later revealed it was seeking "information in respect of (the investor's) capacity to meet their funding obligations" under the terms of a shareholder agreement.

Premier Colin Barnett last week told reporters he couldn't see "a great deal of substance" behind Padbury's funding claims, and confirmed that he had not met with the company.

The premier instead expects Chinese giant CITIC Group to take the lead on developing a port and rail network at Oakajee after an encouraging meeting with the company's chairman in Beijing last week.

Padbury managing director Gary Stokes was due to present at the Mid-West International Mining Forum in Perth tomorrow but said in a statement today that he would no longer be attending.

Mr Stokes, a former deputy director-general of the Department of Industry and Resources, said Padbury had "worked hard to put the Oakajee project back on the agenda". 

"It is worth mentioning that our (intellectual property) was developed by the Chinese, and so we feel it retains significant value for a potential Chinese project developer," he said.

"I will also be meeting with a number of Chinese companies who have recently become interested in the Oakajee project and have invited Padbury to come to China to meet with them.”