Ahtium to apply for bankruptcy

Mining company Ahtium, formerly known as Talvivaara, announced Tuesday it was filing for bankruptcy, after failing to secure financing for its business projects.

"During the last four years, the company has been able to complete the corporate reorganization proceedings and clean up its balance sheet, but unfortunately developing the company's own business projects, acquiring new businesses, and securing financing for these actions proved an overwhelming task with the available time and resources," said Tapani Järvinen, Ahtium's chairman of the board, in a press release issued on Tuesday.

Last week, Ahtium published its 2017 financial results, saying its cash flow was in a critical situation with only 440,000 euros (545,622 U.S. dollars) in the current account.

According to local media, Ahtium has over 80,000 shareholders, most of whom are small investors. The largest shareholder is Finnish state-owned investment company Solidium, with a holding of 7.6 percent.

Founded in 2004, Talvivaara was a mining business operating in Finland with its primary focus on nickel and zinc. Following the start of operations in 2008, it was troubled by heavy financial losses, crushing debt, and serious leaks causing environmental damage.

Talvivaara's operating subsidiary Talvivaara Sotkamo Ltd applied for bankruptcy in November 2014.

The Finnish government set up a company called Terrafame to continue the mining operation in 2015. Singaporean company Trafigura took a stake in the mine in February 2017. The company changed its name to Ahtium in November last year.