David Catsoulis firm Warwick Gold Holdings racked up debt while already insolvent

Twice-bankrupt mining entrepreneur David Catsoulis’s company Warwick Gold Holdings racked up more than $10m in debts while it was already insolvent, a liquidator’s report says.

Mining entrepreneur David Catsoulis.

Twice-bankrupt mining entrepreneur David Catsoulis’s company Warwick Gold Holdings racked up more than $10m in debts while it was already insolvent, a liquidator’s report says, while the location of more than $13m worth of precious metal rods it supposedly owns remains a mystery.

Warwick, which was promoting projects in Queensland and Papua New Guinea it said were worth trillions of dollars, remains in liquidation, but Mr Catsoulis and his associates are seeking to raise $US30m of new capital in a company called RTI Mining, over largely the same assets.

The RTI document, which is labelled for “sophisticated investors only”, claims the company will re-acquire Warwick Gold’s former Texas tenements in Queensland under a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) “currently in preparation with the administrator’’.

In reality, the Queensland government declined to transfer the tenements to Warwick because its application was deficient, with listed company Thomson Resources subsequently taking back ownership of the tenements more than a year after selling them to Warwick.

The liquidator of Warwick Gold also points out in his report that “a DOCA proposal can only be made in a voluntary administration and not in a liquidation’’.

“As liquidator, I am empowered to appoint a voluntary administrator to the company under certain circumstances,’’ the liquidator says.

“However, as my office has yet to receive any proposal, I am unable to provide any view on the viability of any purported proposal or available funding.’’

The Warwick Gold liquidator’s report says it is the liquidator’s view that the company was insolvent from about February 23, 2023.

“Based on my preliminary investigations, I would estimate that since the date of insolvency, the company incurred debts of approximately $10,361,676.30,’’ the report says.

“Accordingly, this amount is the potential claim against the directors for insolvent trading.’’

The directors include Mr Catsoulis, former Labor senator for Queensland Claire Moore, and Yuetu “Jack” Ma. Mr Catsoulis supplied the liquidator with a list of the company’s assets, which included $13.2m worth of “precious metal rods” which he said were in a warehouse on the sparsely populated Ontong Java Atoll in the Solomon Islands.

The liquidator said he had his doubts about this, and had not yet been able to locate the rods.

“Whilst Mr Catsoulis disclosed these metal rods as being located in the Solomon Islands, my office has received conflicting information from stakeholders which indicates these assets, if they do in fact exist, may be located in South Australia,’’ the report says.

“I understand these metal rods were purportedly provided to the company as consideration for 800,000 shares issued to Spice Global Trading (SI) on or around 10 December 2023.’’

But the liquidator said the share issue document lodgement was “made after the date of my appointment and without the authority of my office’’.

Spice Global Trading is owned by Adelaide residents John Begley and Colin Oxlade.

Mr Oxlade has previously been banned from being a company director by the corporate regulator ASIC, and another of his companies, Ox Consolidated Holdings, was liquidated last year for failure to pay a $100,000 debt relating to shares in PGL Gold – another Catsoulis company which had raised money to mine gold in PNG.

Mr Oxlade tendered an affidavit to the court in that matter which claimed he had about $12.5m in precious metals about to be refined in Melbourne, which could be used to pay his debts.

The money never arrived and the company was liquidated.

The liquidator of Warwick Gold Holdings said Mr Catsoulis’s estimation of the company’s assets and liabilities indicated a surplus available to shareholders, once all creditors were paid, of $10.6m.

This includes the missing $13.2m in missing precious metal rods, however.

The liquidator does not offer a view about the likelihood of a return to the company’s 90 or so shareholders but does point out that they rank last behind all other creditors.

“Shareholders should consider seeking their own independent legal advice as to their potential statue as a creditor of the company and as to whether they hold any claim(s) against the directors or other officers (current or former) of the company,’’ the liquidator says.

The RTI Mining information memorandum is looking to raise up to $US30m.

Mr Catsoulis was contacted for comment.