EGU.L Regulatory News (EGU)

1 Oct 2007 07:02

Celtic Resources Holdings PLC01 October 2007 1 October 2007 Celtic Resources Holdings Plc ("Celtic" or the "Company") Celtic enters into agreement to purchase concentrates Celtic is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with asubsidiary of European Goldfields Limited, Hellas Gold S.A. ("Hellas Gold"), forthe purchase of 50,000 tonnes of concentrates containing approximately 30,000 ozof gold. As announced on 22 September 2006, the Company acquired 9,000 tonnes ofconcentrate containing approximately 6,000 oz of gold, to be processed on atrial basis, by Celtic at its Suzdal BIOX(R) plant in Kazakhstan. The Companyalso announced that, if the initial shipments proved successful, it intended topurchase up to an additional 120,000 tonnes of concentrates from Hellas Gold.The Company has been very satisfied by the results of the trial and is thereforeannouncing an agreement to purchase a further 50,000 tonnes of concentrates,with shipments expected to be completed by the end of September 2009. The Company operates the only BIOX(R) plant in the FSU for the treatment ofrefractory sulphide ores and in addition to treating ore produced at its Suzdalmine, it will be utilising available BIOX(R) capacity to produce more gold. Suzdal has produced over 28,599 oz of gold in the last three months, whichincludes 11,780 oz produced in September, at an average sale price of US$718 peroz. Kevin Foo, Managing Director of Celtic, said, "We have been delighted with theresults of our initial trial to process third party concentrates at our SuzdalBIOX(R) plant. This agreement is a significant step forward in our strategy tocapitalise on our technology advantages at Suzdal and we are also looking atother third party concentrate opportunities within Kazakhstan and Russia, asmany refractory gold ores remain unexploited." Contact information: Kevin Foo / Jonathan Scott-BarrettCeltic Resources Holdings PlcTel: + 44 (0)20 7921 8800Investors@celtic resources.com Leesa Peters / Jane StaceyConduit PRTel: +44 (0)20 7429 6606 / (0)792 292 3306leesa@conduitpr.com Anthony CardewCardew GroupTel: +44 (0)20 7930 0777anthony.cardew@cardewgroup.com Strand Partners LimitedSimon RaggettStuart FaulknerTel: +44 (0)20 7409 3494 About the Suzdal BIOX(R) plant: Celtic has successfully developed the first BIOX(R) plant for treatment ofrefractory sulphide ores in the FSU at its Suzdal mine in Kazakhstan. The plantuses a sulphide oxidation process for recovering gold from refractory ores orconcentrates. The process utilises a mixed population of naturally occurringbacteria, that are present in all sulphide ores, to break down the sulphidemineral matrix, thereby liberating the occluded gold for subsequent cyanidation. The BIOX(R) process acts as an alternative to conventional processes of roastingand pressure oxidation and offers advantages of reduced capital cost, simplicityof operations, robustness and very low environmental impact. Any person who is the holder of 1 per cent. or more of any class of shares inCeltic may be required to make disclosures pursuant to Rule 8.3 of the IrishTakeover Panel Act, 1997, Takeover Rules 2001 to 2006. The Directors of Celtic accept responsibility for the information contained inthis announcement and to the best of their knowledge and belief (having takenall reasonable care to ensure that such is the case), the information containedin this announcement is in accordance with the facts and, where appropriate,does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange