re: kiernan chairman + london listing Kiernan on way to new...

re: kiernan chairman + london listing Kiernan on way to new career as gold baron

JOHN PHACEAS

Outgoing Consolidated Minerals chief Michael Kiernan has set his sights on becoming Australia's next gold baron, after succeeding Kalgoorlie veteran and Ron Manners as chairman of Croesus Mining yesterday.

The struggling gold miner, which became Australia's third largest homegrown producer when it bought WMC's Central Norseman mines for $80 million in 2002, will become the chief focus of the departing ConsMin boss when he quits his executive role at the manganese, chromite and nickel miner next year.

Mr Manners told shareholders of his decision to retire from the company he founded 20 years ago at the company's annual meeting in Kalgoorlie, and said he believed the changeover would help Croesus regain its lustre after a string of crises and heavy losses.

Since October last year, Croesus has been rocked by the discovery of a big gold stealing racket at Norseman, the departure of both long-serving chief Mike Ivey in February and then his successor Gerard Anderson just nine months later, and the forced closure of its Davyhurst mine which plunged it $17 million into the red.

Mr Kiernan, who last month revealed he would quit his executive role at ConsMin after a spat with institutional investors over pay, said Croesus would be the centrepiece of his plans to build a new career in gold.

"Certainly my life after ConsMin is going to focus on gold, and I can see there is ground in Western Australia for a good mid-sized gold group producing over 300,000 ounces," he said from Kalgoorlie.

"Once I have completed my commitments at ConsMin I will be able to devote more time to it (Croesus) and certainly that's what I intend to do."

Having built a strong following among investors on London's Alternative Investment Market during his reign at ConsMin, Mr Kiernan flagged an imminent AIM listing to boost Croesus' standing and access to capital.

The listing will coincide with a London float of Kiernan-controlled gold explorer Monarch Resources, which this week won the bidding to buy Davyhurst for $5 million.

"I've got a good following in London and I'm going to put the vision to the English that we're developing a medium sized West Australian gold group," he said.

"Monarch and Croesus will both be independent, but between the two, there should build up quite good synergism."

Croesus chief executive Mike Fowler laid out plans to turn the company around by improving margins and reserves at Norseman, selling off non-core assets and looking for a "significant" merger or acqusition to boost the company's production base and scale.

Croesus produced a record 265,000oz in 2003, but last year poured only 183,000oz after closing the Binduli and Davyhurst mines.