Croesus carve-up commences

Croesus Mining NL subsidiary Central Norseman Gold Corporation Ltd will be sold separately or restructured, if everything goes according to the plan of company administrators Pitcher Partners.

In their first announcement since company partners (?) Bryan Hughes and Vincent Smith were appointed on June 23, Pitcher Partners announced that CNGC had continued to trade, with a view to being sold as a going concern.

According to the announcement, the months prior to the Administrators' appointment had seen significant progress made in turning the Norseman operation from a position of signifcant monthly losses to generation of cash surpluses.

An operations recovery plan was implemented, and the administrators are confident both Croesus and CNGC will continue to trade in accordance with the plan.

Pitcher Partners has recommended that Croesus creditors execute a deed of company arrangement at the second creditors meeting tomorrow, to allow the administrators to pursue further restructures and realise additional company value.

They plan to seek expressions of interest from parties for the acquisition of all or part of the group's assets, and plan to be in a position to report on the outcome of the sale or restructure by no later than December 20.

Croesus shares were suspended from quotation on March 17 after last trading at 27.5 cents, one day after the company reported a net loss of $27.38 million for the first half of 2005/06.

Shareholders had been told in November 2005 to expect a return to profitability in the second half.