Resources spruiker David Catsoulis loses control of a Queensland prospect he says is worth trillions

Resources promoter David Catsoulis has lost control of tenements in Queensland he says hold ‘trillions’ of dollars worth of minerals – but he flatly denies this is the case.

Resources spruiker David Catsoulis.

Resources spruiker David Catsoulis has lost control of mineral tenements in Queensland that he has been promoting as holding “trillions” of dollars worth of ore, although he flatly denies this is the case and says the government backs him “100 per cent”.

Mr Catsoulis, who has been bankrupt twice in the past, told The Weekend Australian that the Queensland government was “100 per cent on side with us” and “I have a meeting with the minister arranged’’.

However, the office of the Queensland Minister for Resources and Critical Minerals, Scott Stewart, said no meeting with Mr Catsoulis had been arranged.

“There is no meeting scheduled with the minister,’’ a spokesman said. “Mr Catsoulis called at 1.15pm today seeking a meeting with the minister. He has no current plans to meet him.

“This government support resources projects that stack up environmentally, socially and financially,” they added.

The Weekend Australian spoke with Mr Catsoulis at 10.36am – hours before the meeting with the minister was requested.

The Queensland Department of Resources has said on a number of occasions that the tenements in question, which hold the Silver Spur and Texas mineral assets, were not able to be transferred to Mr Catsoulis’s company because its application to have them transferred was deficient.

Mr Catsoulis’s company, Warwick Gold Holdings, agreed in late 2022 to buy the tenements in question from ASX-listed Thomson Resources for $3.5m.

Mr Catsoulis has since been telling existing and potential investors that his team has identified more than $2 trillion worth of silver and other precious metals at the sites, where mining was scheduled to start before the end of the first quarter of this year.

In one of the recent updates, Mr Catsoulis says the Silverspur project, a “super Ag (silver) deposit’’, will yield $100,000 per tonne of ore when processed.

This translates to $10bn per “block” of ore, with more than 100 of these blocks available, he says in the update.

This brings the total dollar figure to more than $1 trillion from the silver alone.

Mr Catsoulis says there is also high-grade iridium, gold and scandium at the sites.

Thomson told the ASX last month that due to Warwick failing to gain ministerial consent to transfer the tenements before the end of 2023, the sale agreement had been terminated.

“The board of Thomson is now considering its position with regard to the Texas Silver Project and will advise the market in due course,’’ the company said.

Mr Catsoulis said on Friday that Warwick “own(s) the title beneficially”.

“It will be transferred,’’ he said. “The deficiencies related to the application that went in. We understand their needs. Now those applications have been resubmitted. I’m telling you unequivocably (sic), those titles belong to the company – Warwick Gold Holdings – beneficially and they will be transferred. This is too big an asset to have in limbo. That won’t happen.’’

Mr Catsoulis said the government “will do the right thing” and transfer the tenements to Warwick. “So the government – and I have a meeting with the minister arranged – will do the right thing and transfer them across at the appropriate time.

“We’re not in any hurry. We know we own this stuff beneficially. It’ll all happen.’’

Mr Catsoulis later changed his story and said one of the company’s directors had requested a meeting with the minister.

Warwick was placed briefly into administration twice last year and another winding-up hearing was held on Thursday. Mr Catsoulis hung up the phone on Friday before the matter could be discussed. His Gold Coast home was sold last year after one of his companies which owned it was placed in liquidation.

Mr Catsoulis has been raising funds for this and other projects in Papua New Guinea for at least four years. In late 2019, his company PGL Gold was offering a 200 per cent return inside three weeks for money invested into his gold project in PNG.

So for your initial $100,000, you would get $200,000 back almost immediately. “Thereafter, for every 100,000 of the company shares held, investors will receive a minimum of $100,000 per month for the life of the mine (estimated to be between 12/24 months),” a shareholder briefing document states.

The Weekend Australian is yet to come into contact with any shareholders who have made money from investing into this or in fact any projects with Mr Catsoulis, but it has had contact with several who have lost money.

Mr Catsoulis is being investigated by the corporate regulator, ASIC, according to sources.

Originally published as Resources spruiker David Catsoulis loses control of a Queensland prospect he says is worth trillions