Good news from Spain for Ormonde Mining

EXPLORATION company Ormonde Mining had good news for shareholders yesterday when it published results from its latest drilling programme at a gold and copper site in southern Spain. The share price added 3% on the news.

Ormonde managing director Kerr Anderson said the results were pleasing and supported the company’s confidence in the project, which is based at La Zarza near the Portuguese border. Recent testing work had shown the size of the mineral deposits at the site were in line with expectations, he said.

The company will now progress with further tests and conduct a study to determine the economic viability of a combined gold and copper operation at the site. “We look forward to reporting further results from the ongoing programme,” said Mr Anderson.

Further work will be carried out in Britain to review samples and indicate the best way to recover usable material from the gold and copper deposits found. Ormonde currently earns a 70% interest in the La Zarza project, in return for providing funding support worth around €1.8 million to cover operating costs over three years.

The region contains substantial amounts of gold, copper and silver deposits. The company is also active in a number of projects in northern Spain.

Ormonde, which is headquartered in Navan, Co Meath, is valued at around €18 million and is among the smallest companies quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange.

It was one of the eight companies to transfer a listing to the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) when the new secondary Dublin market was launched in May. It also maintains a listing on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

The company, which was set up in 1983, first went public in 1987 but later suspended trading in its shares in 2000. Its shares were readmitted to the stock exchange in 2001.