Mining company with significant interests in Sierra Leone, African Minerals said on Friday it will appoint administrators after it defaulted in its loan repayment to its lender and partner in the Tonkolili iron ore project Shandong Iron and Steel Group.

Chinese investor Shandong, which has a 25 percent stake in the company, last week, took on some of African Minerals’ debt from a group of banks including Standard Chartered and Citi. It had since taken control of the holding companies in the project.

“…The board has concluded that there is no reasonable prospect of it being able to achieve a negotiated solution with (Shandong),” African Minerals said in a statement.

“The company is working to identify an appropriate insolvency practitioner to represent and protect the interests of the creditors and stakeholders.”

The miner, in a statement acknowledged that Shandong Steel “has taken control of the holding companies by appointing new directors who have a voting majority, and has taken steps to take control of African Mineral’s 75% shareholding in the operating companies by appointing replacement directors to those companies.”

African Minerals has been affected by costs related to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa which has led to the death of 3576 in Sierra Leone alone, and a fall in iron ore prices over the last year. After almost halving in 2014, the price of iron ore is now down another 20 percent this year.

Last November, African Minerals shut down operations in Sierra Leone due to a lack of working capital. Shares of the company listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange have been suspended since Nov. 20 due to uncertainty about the company’s future.

As a result of the miner’s decision to appoint administrators, its Nominated Adviser and Broker, Jefferies International Limited, has resigned with immediate effect. “Failure of the Company to appoint a replacement Nominated Adviser within one month from today will result in cancellation of the listing of its shares on AIM,” the company said on its website.