Troubled steel and mining group Arrium has moved closer to the edge after suspending trading in its shares on the ASX.
Shares in the cash-starved company have been in a trading halt since Monday, after its lenders rejected the firm's $US927 million ($A1.23 billion) funding deal with Blackstone's alternative asset manager GSO Capital Partners.
Its shares were due to come out of the trading halt on Wednesday morning, but instead Arrium said a voluntary suspension would remain in place until further announcement in relation to the discussions with its lenders.
"The company expects to make that further announcement within a week," Arrium said in a statement to the ASX, indicating a struggle to reach an agreement with the lenders about the recapitalisation of the company.
The South Australia-based steel group has been weighed down by a $2.1 billion debt load amid a prolonged commodities downturn.
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In February, it warned it might mothball its Whyalla steel plant and mining operations in South Australia - putting thousands of jobs at risk - if it couldn't reduce costs. The company had reported a first-half net loss of $235.8 million.
Arrium's lenders - which include Australia's four major banks, several global banks and US bond holders - this week rejected the GSO rescue package that would have involved them taking a sharp haircut on their debt.
Federal industry minister Christopher Pyne has blamed the management of Arrium for putting thousands of jobs at risk, saying it is unfair to criticise lenders.
"If there is anybody that needs to look at themselves, it's the Arrium management, not the banks," he told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.
The banks have instead pushed the struggling company to go into voluntary administration, with the administrator to be handpicked by the lenders, the Australian Financial Review newspaper has reported.
Arrium's directors have also offered to resign, the paper said on Wednesday.
A company spokesman declined to comment on the media reports.
Arrium, formerly known as OneSteel, operates a 1.2 million tonnes a year steel plant at Whyalla on SA's Eyre Peninsula, which is bleeding cash in the face of a collapse in steel prices and cheaper Chinese imports.
It also owns smaller but more modern plants in Melbourne and Sydney.
Arrium's board previously considered, and rejected, the sale of its only profitable division - the Moly-Cop mining consumables business.
Moly-Cop is the world's largest supplier of grinding media used for crushing and grinding in the mining and construction industries.
Earlier on Wednesday, Arrium said it had appointed Anthony Brooks as interim finance head after chief financial officer Robert Bakewell resigned to move to building products group Brickworks.
Arrium shares, which have lost more than 80 per cent of their value in the past three months, last traded at 2.2 cents.
