A Federal Court order has paved the way for Ardmore phosphate mine owner Centrex to become a wholly owned subsidiary of fertiliser company PRL Global.

Centrex called in the administrators in March after repeatedly extending the closing date for an entitlement offer hoped to raise more than $10 million and back completion of its Stage 1.5 expansion project at the North-West Queensland mine.

Voluntary administrators John Park and Joanne Dunn of FTI Consulting were subsequently appointed as deed administrators last month upon the execution of the deed of company arrangement.

Related: PRL Global runs the ruler over phosphate business

They announced today that Federal Court Justice Mark Moshinsky had made an order granting them leave to transfer all shares in Centrex to PRL with no consideration payable to shareholders of Centrex.

PRL Global described this as a milestone in its potential acquisition of the phosphate operation, but said completion of the transaction remained subject to a number of remaining conditions precedent.

These must be satisfied or waived by August 31.

The economic viability of the Ardmore phosphate mine remained dependent on having reached commercial terms with key logistics and operational counterparties, the company said.

PRL Group owns and operates a rock phosphate mine on Christmas Island, about 1500km west of the Australian mainland and 2600km from Perth.

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