The trading halt will remain in place until the opening of trade on Friday at the latest, and comes as the company continues to struggle against difficult market conditions.

Earlier this week Macmahon forecast asset impairments in the range of $A95-125 million for the second half of the financial year in addition to the $130 million write down it recorded in the first half when the contractor incurred a $112.5 million loss.

Macmahon has also struggled with its contracts in recent times, having last month lost a two-year $38 million deal with Newmont Mining over the Martha mine at its Waihi project in New Zealand following a slip at the northern wall of the open pit.

The termination of the Newmont deal followed the loss in February of a $260 million per annum contract with Fortescue Metals Group over the miner’s Christmas Creek Expansion in Western Australia.

The FMG contract was lost three years early to rival contractor Downer EDI after the miner decided to consolidate its two mining services contracts in the region into one.

In addition to its contractual issued, jobs were cut from Macmahon’s workforce at BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam mine in March as a result of complications at the mine’s processing facilities following a mill failure.

Company share price hit an all-time low of 3.4c in February following the loss of the FMG contract, which came the month following managing director Ross Carroll’s sudden resignation.

Macmahon shares last closed at 4.6c.