TSX-V-watchers were amazed last month when private US investment company Gryphon Enterprises offered US$750 million for WHY's Record Ridge South, Midnight and OK properties.
Off the back of the deal - far larger than the Canadian company's previous market cap $16 million - WHY's share price climbed 1,000% to $1.57 per share.
Its shares were suspended soon after and remain so.
But the cliché about things being too good applied here.
Gryphon CEO Stephen Cummings (who was "known to principals" of WHY) did not pay the $500,000 deposit on the due date this week and the transaction was cancelled.
His lawyer Thomas Kenan told Bloomberg that Cummings' eyes were bigger than his stomach.
"He's not a crook, I'll just tell you that right now, I wouldn't associate with one," he said.
"But sometimes he's not very practical; he reaches very far and is always working on great big deals."
West High Yield had planned to distribute the "vast majority of the proceeds from the purchase and sale to the company's shareholders while at the same time exploring other business opportunities".
Its properties contain a 43 million tonne resource averaging 24.6% magnesium for 10.6Mt contained magnesium.
A preliminary economic assessment put the NPV (5% discount) of the Record Ridge project at $1.3 billion.
Bloomberg reported the Alberta Securities Commission was looking into the proposed deal.
