Irish oil and mineral exploration company, Celtic Resources Holdings today said it plans to spin off its oil and gas assets into a separate AIM-listed company, which will operate in Russia and Kazakhstan, as part of a new objective to become one of the largest gold miners in the former Soviet Union.
The company successfully completed the separation of its Kazakhstan exploration assets into Eureka Mining in exchange for shares in December 2003.
Full-year pretax profit rose to $2.7 million, excluding the $11.7 million from the spin off of Eureka Mining, from $2.3 million the previous year. Sales grew to $12.1 million from $9.3 million.
It previously announced that it agreed with Investment Group Alrosa to increase its ownership of the Nezhdaninskoye gold mine in Yakutia, Russia to 100 per cent by the issue of new shares to IG Alrosa, giving IG Alrosa a 23 per cent stake in the company.
Today, it said it completed an expansion of this plan to include the acquisition of additional gold assets, including some producing mines. This transaction will make IG Alrosa its largest shareholder.
It plans to bring Nezhdaninskoye into commercial production this year.
Celtic Resources said gold production from the Suzdal and Zherek mines in Kazakhstan in 2003 was more than 33,000 ounces and that it plans to boost gold output from the country to an annual rate of more than 100,000 ounces by the end of this year. It has a 75 per cent interest in the Zherek mine.
AFP