Legal win

Celtic Resources Holdings PLC
24 November 2005


                          Celtic Resources Holdings Plc
                          ("Celtic" or "the Company")
                                        
                        Celtic wins legal case in Russia
                                        
The Board of Celtic is now pleased to confirm that it has won an important court
case in relation to activities of the "South Verkhoyansk Mining Company"
("SVMC") which owns the Nezhdaninskoye gold mine.

On 8 November 2005 the Court of Appeal of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
granted a decision in favour of Celtic. This ruled that a meeting held by the
board of directors of SVMC on 26 September 2002 was convened illegally and was
therefore invalid and that the resolutions decided upon at that meeting were
also invalid. This meeting was held without Celtic's knowledge at the time.

During this meeting several resolutions detrimental to Celtic's rights were
illegally passed. These decisions subsequently led to the:

   • replacement of Celtic's representative as the Chairman of the Board of
     SVMC;

   • calling of an extraordinary shareholder meeting on 22 November 2002,
     that Celtic has never recognized as being legal;


   • creation of a parallel shareholder register of SVMC, which Celtic also
     deems to be invalid; and


   • transformation of SVMC from a Closed Joint Stock Company into an Open
     Joint Stock Company.

Subject to further appeal the recent Court decision has very important
implications for Celtic. The judgement of 8 November 2005 invalidates all board
decisions flowing from the 26 September 2002 board meeting. In addition to the
above this would include decisions regarding the transfer of shares to IG Alrosa
and the subsequent sale to Polyus.

Peter Hannen, Chairman of Celtic, commented, "This is a very important step in
the right direction for Celtic and confirms the Board's continued belief in the
Company's legal right to its 50 per cent. holding in SVMC. We will continue to
proceed through the correct legal channels to resolve these issues in order to
advance to our ultimate aim of developing the Nezhdaninskoye gold mine."

For further information please contact:

Kevin Foo / Kate Dexter Smith   Leesa Peters / Laurence Read
Celtic Resources Holdings Plc   Conduit PR
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7921 8800       Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]   [e-mail]

Frank Moxon / Nick Morgan
Williams de Broe Plc
Tel: [phone]
                             www.celticresources.com



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