WA Kaolin is in voluntary administration.

On Thursday, 13 August, ASIC published a notice of appointment of an administrator for WA Kaolin Limited, ACN 083 187 017, the ASX-listed producer behind the Wickepin kaolin project south-east of Perth. Greg Prout and Clifford Rocke were appointed on 12 August. The ASX published a further suspension-from-quotation notice on 13 August following the administration; the securities had already been suspended at the company's request since 3 August. WA Kaolin was formerly Tru-Blue Resources Pty Ltd, and before that W.A. Kaolin Holdings Pty Ltd.

Eighty-six days earlier it had completed a recapitalisation.

The May raise is usually written as a $16.1 million recapitalisation. That figure is the sum of two different things. About $10.13 million was existing debt exchanged for shares, and roughly $6 million was cash before costs. Just under 63 per cent of the headline never entered the company as money.

Of that roughly $6 million, $4.24 million came from Century Horse and $500,000 from Boneyard Investments, both already substantial holders.

The conversion is set out to the dollar in the company's replacement prospectus. Three creditors converted:

Only Wamco Industries' loan was extinguished outright: the prospectus says it "will be fully discharged through the Debt Conversion". SMA (Operations) converted about 63 per cent of what it was owed and kept the rest.

Two lenders converted nothing. Those two held the security.

Scientific Management Associates (Victoria) Pty Ltd was owed $12,322,409.50. Its loan is secured by a general security deed over all of the present and future assets of the company, and is repayable no later than 31 December 2037. None of it was converted.

Wamco Industries Group Pty Ltd held a separate $1,500,000 loan, also secured over all present and future assets. None of it was converted.

Under a priority deed dated 6 February 2026, the SMA (Victoria) security ranks first, ahead of the Wamco Industries Group security in second.

That leaves a distinction easy to get wrong. Wamco Industries Pty Ltd and Wamco Industries Group Pty Ltd are two different companies, registered twelve years apart, both controlled by managing director Alfred Baker. The first one's claim vanished in May; the second one's survived, with security over everything. The register records that Wamco Industries Group has also traded as Wamco Pacific and MBA Constructions.

The same split runs through the SMA side: one SMA entity converted part of its claim while a second kept the first-ranking security untouched.

Its 8 May presentation to shareholders put total liabilities at $33.3 million including $27.5 million of shareholder loans, of which $10.1 million was becoming equity, and said the minimum subscription "reduces shareholder loans to $17.4 million".

The prospectus is more precise about the starting point: approximately $27,591,751 owed to loan creditors, plus $378,073 to asset financiers, $161,058 of lease liability and about $2,369,540 to trade creditors.

So the recapitalisation changed the composition of the company's obligations rather than removing them. Roughly $10 million of claims became shares; something over $17 million of borrowings remained, and two of the surviving loans, including the largest, were secured over every asset.

The prospectus did not present the raise as a completed rescue. It said the funds raised "together with existing cash flow, will be sufficient to meet working capital requirements until end August 2026", on an assumption of average plant production of 3,600 tonnes a month, and that the company might then need to raise more.

Its going-concern note listed what viability depended on, including "the Company's major distributor, Dak Tai, continuing to order at least the minimum quarterly volume of product under its Offtake Agreement".

On 3 August the company asked the ASX to suspend its securities so it could review the cancellation of a significant volume of customer orders and conclude funding discussions. Nine days later the directors appointed administrators, citing the cash position, committed and contingent liabilities and that order-book cancellation.

The 3 August suspension was voluntary. The 13 August one was made under the listing rules after the administration, and is not a finding about the company's conduct.

Known: the conversion amounts, creditor by creditor. The surviving SMA (Victoria) and Wamco Industries Group loans, their all-asset security and their first and second ranking under the 6 February priority deed. The $27.5 million to $17.4 million shareholder-loan movement. The end-August working-capital horizon and the Dak Tai dependency. The 3 August suspension, the 12 August appointment and the 13 August publication.

Not established here: whether Boneyard retained any claim. The prospectus records $3,720,703.39 owing and $3,520,339 converted, leaving $200,364 on those figures, while the 8 May presentation shows no Boneyard loan balance. Nothing reviewed reconciles the two. Also unknown: which customers cancelled orders, what any creditor or shareholder will recover, and whether a deed of company arrangement or a sale will be achieved.

Voluntary administration is not liquidation. It has three possible ends: a deed of company arrangement, a return to the directors, or winding up. The administrators have said they will seek expressions of interest to recapitalise or sell.

What changed. An ASX-listed producer entered voluntary administration on 12 August, 86 days after completing a recapitalisation of which about 63 per cent was existing debt converted to equity.

Why it matters. A headline raise and a balance sheet are different questions. For a supplier or a lender, what matters is which claims were extinguished, which survived, and which of the survivors held security. Here the two that held security over every asset converted nothing.

What the record does not prove. Any recovery for any class, any residual Boneyard claim, any cause of the order cancellations, or any outcome for the administration.

Sources. WA Kaolin Limited, notice of appointment of an administrator, ASIC published notices. The conversion amounts, loan terms, security, priority deed, working-capital horizon and going-concern dependencies are from the company's replacement prospectus of 9 April 2026. The launch terms are from its ASX announcement of 30 March 2026 and the balance-sheet movement from its general meeting presentation of 8 May 2026. The completed raise is from the company's completion announcement dated 18 May 2026, and its cash composition is as reported the following day. Former names of the company and of the creditor entities are from the ASIC registers.

ASIC published notices concerning 129 entities on 13 August:

Fifty of the 129 carry a trading, business or former name that differs from the legal name by more than case, punctuation or a corporate suffix.

A winding-up application asks a court for an order; it does not mean a company has been wound up. A members' voluntary liquidation is ordinarily a solvent process.

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Marine Co Group Pty Ltd, ACN 629 765 715, was ordered wound up by the Supreme Court of Victoria on 12 August, published 13 August, with David Ross appointed liquidator. It carries four registered business names: Italboats Victoria, Blue Cat Boats Australia, Marine Co Mechanical and Marine Co Services, and was formerly Marine Co AU Pty Ltd. The application was commenced on 29 June by Fundit Limited, as trustee of the Banjo Small Business Loan Fund, published 23 July and listed for 12 August. Both notices also record a prior receiver and manager appointment, so this is a change of process rather than a first sign of distress.

Apex Medical Group Pty Ltd, ACN 610 337 543, was wound up by the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 13 August and published the same day, with Clint Peter Joseph and Giovanni Maurizio Carrello appointed. It carries the business name SuperClinic Midland and was formerly AHG III Pty Ltd, and before that Talem Medical Group (Midland) Pty Limited. Applications against it were published on 23 June and 6 August. The clinic's own pages present it as operating, and the register does not establish whether it continues to trade.

OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Limited, ACN 004 651 325, trading as OneSteel Whyalla Steelworks and SIMEC Mining, has been in voluntary administration since 19 February 2025. Today's notice calls a meeting of the committee of inspection for 20 August, proofs due 19 August.

A single notice covered AQC Dartbrook Pty Ltd and six related companies, all under a deed of company arrangement executed 27 February 2026. It calls a meeting of creditors for 27 August, proofs due 26 August.

The register carried 62 newly published distress entries. Companies carrying a former or trading name are listed first.

60 further companies appear on the register for this day: see the full day.

50 entities carry a trading, business or former name that differs from the legal name by more than case, punctuation or a corporate suffix.

48 further entities carry another name on record. Registered spellings are preserved exactly.

These are applications, not findings of insolvency. Hearing details are from the notices and may change.

8 further applications appear on the register for this day: see the full day.

A headline raise and a balance sheet are different questions. Get the next Daily Register for each day's appointments, applications, resolved names and hearing dates, connected before you have to act on them.