Conroy predicts golden touch

RICHARD Conroy, responsible for the discovery of the Galmoy ore body, is optimistic he has another winner on his hands and this time it’s gold.

He believes that if developed it could make a bigger contribution to the economy than Galmoy.

But it will take up to €30 million and a joint venture with a major player to make that happen, said Professor Conroy, who has been slowly building a gold reserves profile from the initial discovery in Clontibret, Co Monaghan.

That initial find goes back to the early 1950s and in the past few years Prof Conroy has built up a profile of significant gold reserves. He has identified 20 separate gold sites in the Monaghan/Armagh area.

Defending the long delivery time of the mine he said it must be remembered most other explorers got out of the search for gold when prices fell to $250 (€211.69) an ounce.

“We kept on exploring and kept going despite those difficulties,” he said.

As a result he believed the company was “ahead of the posse which was quite an achievement” given the unfavourable circumstances of recent years.

Over €2m has been spent in the past few years firming up the prospects in the area and directors, including Prof Conroy are owed €4m which they have waived in favour of share options.

Currently the group is looking at a whole series of deposits and the next step is to find out if they are linked.