Cerillion Regulatory News (CER)

7 Nov 2006 07:02

Celtic Resources Holdings PLC07 November 2006 Embargoed for 7.05am 7 NOVEMBER 2006 Celtic Resources Holdings Plc ("Celtic" or "the Company") TRADING UPDATE AND ADDITIONAL NOTES ON COMPETENT PERSONS REPORT IN EUREKA MINING PLC CIRCULAR Celtic announced today that the boards of Celtic and Eureka Mining PLC("Eureka") have agreed to the terms of a scheme of arrangement under s.425 ofthe Companies Act whereby Celtic will acquire Eureka (the "Scheme"). The detailsof the Scheme are contained in a separate announcement also released today. Thefull text of the associated Scheme circular to Eureka shareholders will be madeavailable on the Company's website, www.celticresources.com, when the Circularhas been posted to Eureka shareholders. The Circular contains a trading updateby Celtic: CURRENT TRADING Monthly gold production at Suzdal has been increasing and the BIOX(R) plant hascompleted an annual cycle which in Kazakhstan covers climatic temperatures from-40degreesC to +40degreesC. Improvements in plant throughput and gold recoveryare continuing. In addition, consideration is being given to expanding thecapacity of the plant to treat concentrates from other sources, including minesin the region which have sulphide ores similar to Suzdal. Since the interim results, published on 12 September 2006, internal forecastshave been reviewed and due to lower mined grades at Suzdal, Celtic now expectsgold production this year to be around 50,000 ozs. Also, due to treatment oflower grade transitional ores at Zherek, production there should be around12,000 ozs of gold this year. At 62,000 ozs, the combined group production willbe 60% higher than last year. At Zherek, Celtic's preliminary technical and economic studies suggest thatsulphide ore could be mined and trucked to Suzdal. Celtic continues to reviewother mining opportunities, primarily in the FSU. COMPETENT PERSONS REPORT SRK has completed a Competent Persons Report on Celtic's assets for the purposesof the Scheme circular, the full text of which is available in the Schemecircular. This included their resources audit that brought all reserve andresource statements into JORC Code as stated in Celtic's 2005 annual report andaccounts. Kevin Foo, Managing Director commented "The Company is pleased that SRK hasconfirmed a 2 million ozs JORC compliant gold resource. The BIOX(R) plant atSuzdal has demonstrated its robustness over the year and we are now consideringan expansion of the plant from capacity 300,000 t/y to 400,000 t/y. This willallow us to process additional Suzdal ore, Zherek ore and other refractory oresand concentrates in the region, thus taking advantage of the fact that ours isthe first successful application of bacterial oxidation in the FSU. " Notes: Terms in this press release shall have the same meaning as the terms inthe Eureka Scheme circular which will be posted to Eureka shareholders today(and will also be made available on Celtic's website). The Mineral ResourceStatement has been prepared by SRK under the JORC code. For further information please contact: Kevin Foo / Kate Dexter Smith Laurence ReadCeltic Resources Holdings Plc Conduit PRTel: + 44 (0)20 7921 8800 Tel: +44(0)20 7429 6666Investors@celticresources.com laurence@conduitpr.com Frank Moxon / Simon EdwardsEvolution Securities LimitedTel: +44 (0) 20 7071 4300 www.celticresources.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange