But the company was thrown a lifeline by its lenders who granted an extension on loans -- a precondition for the 2.6 billion Australian dollar takeover bid to proceed.

Australian government approval of the takeover of the diversified miner by the Chinese government-backed Minmetals now looms as the last real threat to the deal.

The 2.50-billion-dollar loss compared with a net profit of 305.8 million a year earlier by Oxiana, which then merged with Zinifex in July last year to create OZ Minerals.

OZ Minerals said it made an operating loss of 66.4 million for the year but the bottom line was impacted by asset writedowns and one-off items of 2.57 billion.

Revenue for the year rose 8.0 percent to 1.22 billion, from 1.12 billion a year earlier, and the miner posted no final dividend, compared to four cents posted a year earlier by Oxiana.

OZ Minerals chief executive Andrew Michelmore said earlier this week the company would go into receivership if the takeover offer from Minmetals did not go ahead.

While some Australian politicans have expressed unease at Chinese investment in the country's resources sector, he said the offer had saved his company.

"Absolutely, at this point in time, having stared down the barrel of receivership or voluntary administration at least three times in the last few months, this is the best outcome for our shareholders," Michelmore said.

The proposed OZ Minerals deal came days after China's state-owned aluminium firm Chinalco said it was putting 19.5 billion US dollars into another troubled Australian mining giant, Rio Tinto.

- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report -

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