Acquisition

Celtic Resources Holdings PLC
14 December 2000


Celtic Resources Holdings Plc

CELTIC TO GAIN ANOTHER 2M OUNCES OF GOLD 
 IN KAZAKHSTAN WITH ACQUISITIONS FROM GOLDBELT 

Celtic Resources Holdings Plc ('Celtic'), the natural resources company quoted
on the ESM of the Irish Stock Exchange, has reached agreement to acquire all
of the mining and exploration assets in Kazakhstan of Goldbelt Resources and
Goldbelt International in an all-share deal worth approximately US$250,000.
The properties being acquired will give Celtic an additional 2m ounces of
measured and indicated gold reserves and substantial resources of copper and
zinc.

Mr. Kevin Foo, Celtic's Managing Director, says: 'Goldbelt spent more than
twenty million dollars and worked for over seven years to develop these
properties and we believe that we have bought well. We are satisfied with the
deal because it gives us some high quality assets and confirms our commitment
in Kazakhstan. We shall focus on generating cash flow from them in 2001.'

Celtic, subject to final due diligence and documentation, will issue 1,200,000
fully paid Ordinary shares, to acquire three major assets from the Goldbelt
companies:

*  A 60p.c. interest in Karagai Gold LLP, a Kazakhstan company holding the
   license for the Abyz gold-base metals deposit. Celtic is exercising an option
   on this property that it has held since 1999;

*  A 50p.c. interest in Kazgold JSC, a Kazakhstan company that holds the
   license for the Leninogorsk Gold Project; 

*  A 25p.c. interest in Dostyk LLP, a Kazakhstan company that holds the
   licenses for the Central Kazakhstan and Mykybinsk properties. This will take
   Celtic's interest in these properties to 80p.c.

Goldbelt Resources Ltd is a British Columbia corporation and Goldbelt
International LLC is a Wyoming limited liability company. 

Abyz Gold- Base Metal Project

Abyz is a gold and base metal deposit located in central Kazakhstan and is
ready for development with Measured and Indicated Resources of 9.13m tonnes at
4.35g/t gold, 42 g/t silver, 1.6p.c. copper and 3.5p.c. zinc. There are
1.27million contained ounces of gold and 12.3 million ounces of silver.
Extensive diamond drilling and feasibility studies conducted by Goldbelt and
Celtic have defined open pit and underground mineable reserves of 4.4m tonnes
at 6.47g/t gold, 61 g/t silver, 2.13p.c. copper and 5.35p.c. zinc.  At current
prices, the ore value is US$160/tonne. Celtic intends to review the project
with an aim of starting a small scale, low cost operation that would produce
early cash flow and then follow up on promising geophysical anomalies that may
increase the resource base. 

Leninogorsk Gold Project

The Leninogorsk Gold Project, located near the city of Leninogorsk in
northeastern Kazakhstan, is a project to extract gold and silver from
reprocessed mine tailings. There are two deposits, Starroya and Chasinskoye,
where ore reserves have been established by drilling, channel sampling and
historical measurement of tailings. 


Deposit        Mineable    Gold g/t     Silver  g/t     Gold  M. Oz   Silver
M. Oz
               Million
               Tonnes

Starroya       13.6        1.16         12.35           0.510         5.40

Chasinskoye    88.8        0.68         4.69            1.940         13.39
Total          102.4       0.74         5.71            2.450         18.79


Celtic will fully review the project status in 2001 with a view to employing
the adjacent milling facilities of KazZinc, the 50p.c. partner in Kazgold, to
treat higher-grade sections of the deposit to profitably produce gold and
silver. 

Dostyk LLP 

This company owns two licenses, Central Kazakhstan (9984 sq. km) and Mykubinsk
(18,973 sq. km) in central Kazakhstan. The area is highly prospective for
volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) and gold-copper porphyry deposits.
Goldbelt carried out extensive work and has identified over 200 prospects in
the license areas. Of these, the Baygustam (VMS) and Beriosky (Porphyry)
deposits represent two late stage copper exploration properties with
geological targets of 10m tonnes at 3p.c. to 4p.c. copper and 150m tonnes at
0.6p.c. to 0.9p.c. copper respectively.

Mr Foo says: 'The Abyz gold-base metals project is exciting and we believe it
has excellent potential to double in size. The Leninogorsk project, with over
two million ounces of gold, and the late stage exploration properties in
central Kazakhstan are considered valuable.' 

Celtic Resources Holdings Plc is a natural resources company that specialises
in development of gold mines in the Former Soviet Union.  Its key asset is a
50p.c. share of the Nezhdaninskoye gold mine in Yakutia.  Nezhdaninskoye has
gold resources exceeding 20m ounces and Celtic recently secured first stage
financing for this project from a Russian Bank. Other assets are an interest
in the 50,000oz/year Suzdal gold mine in Kazakhstan as well as hydrocarbon
interests in the North Sea and the 5m-barrel Tamdykol oil project in
Kazakhstan. 

Celtic's key objective is, within 3 years to grow into a profitable, resources
based company with an attractive portfolio of producing and developing mines
and hydrocarbon properties in Russia and Central Asia.  Celtic aims to
increase shareholder value by acquiring quality assets well and generating
cash from them quickly.

Further information:

Kevin Foo /Claire Bolton, Celtic Resources Holdings Plc. [phone].
[e-mail]           www.celticresources.com 

Ron Marshman/Ken Gooding, City of London PR.        [phone]

Eugenee Mulhern, Davy Corporate Finance Limited.   [phone]