David Catsoulis’s Impact Gold facing winding up application

David Catsoulis’s PNG-focused Impact Gold is facing a winding up application, while his fellow company Warwick Gold is in liquidation.

David Catsoulis from Impact Gold in Papua New Guinea sometime around 2019. Picture: Instagram

Twice-bankrupt mining spruiker David Catsoulis is talking up the prospects of his Papua New Guinea gold project, even as the company which owns it is facing a winding up application and he personally is facing an associated claim for damages.

Mr Catsoulis’ company Impact Gold has been talking up the merits of its gold project in the Maprik region of PNG for almost five years now, with an investor document from 2019 estimating the gold resource at 35,000kg of gold, which he has previously told The Australian was “conservative’’.

While the mining operation was meant to underpin a $20.7bn listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2023, according to the company’s investor documents, there is no evidence a resource as defined under Australian mining standards has ever been produced for the project, or any substantial amount of gold mined.

In a letter recently sent to investors ahead of an annual general meeting to be held on Friday June 28, Mr Catsoulis says the company is about to welcome $25m in new investment this month from Melbourne company Australian Refining Services (ARS).

ARS director John Spiteri told The Australian he would invest the money subject to conditions and completing due diligence, and said The Australian was conducting a “witch hunt” against Mr Catsoulis.

“My investment will only happen when my due diligence is done … I’m very convinced that the gold is there,’’ Mr Spiteri said.

“I think you need to get your facts right because I think you’ve got the wrong facts.’’

Mr Catsoulis’s letter says Impact Gold has appointed a new chief executive, has struck a joint venture with a Chinese company and started buying heavy equipment to begin major earthworks.

A key performance indicator for the new chief executive would be to produce more than 1000kg of gold in the first three months.

At current gold prices that would be worth more than $120m.

Meanwhile, a winding up application has been lodged against Impact Gold in the Queensland Supreme Court by a company called Port Barrack, related to the non-payment of money the plaintiff claims to be owed in dividends and under contracts around share purchases.

A separate but related Supreme Court claim lodged this month is claiming $755,000 in damages from Mr Catsoulis and his company Catimel, saying numerous promises were made guaranteeing Port Barrack’s investment in Impact Gold.

The claim says assurances were made, if dividends were not paid on the shares by December 2022, Impact would buy back the shares at twice the purchase price.

The claim alleges, apart from some interest payments on a convertible note, the money has not been repaid, and the shares are now considered worthless.

Port Barrack invested a total of $970,000 in Impact, the court claim, which also names Ace Capital Group as a defendant, alleges.

Mt Catsoulis said via text message he had advised the investor which owns Port Barrack not to invest as “he was old and frail, and I am on record saying this to him”.

The winding up application is due to return to court on July 9 for a directions hearing.

Another resources company operated by Mr Catsoulis, Warwick Gold, which he has previously claimed was sitting on more than $2 trillion worth of precious metals at its former Texas project in Queensland, was placed in liquidation in late February.

Originally published as David Catsoulis’s Impact Gold facing winding up application