Arcon bring total losses to €94.5m

ARCON’S streak of loss making results continues with the zinc mining company reporting pre-tax losses of €14.65 million for 2002 bringing accumulated losses to €94.5m.

Shares in Arcon International Resources PLC, operators of the zinc mine at Galmoy in county Kilkenny, traded at three cents yesterday, down from 31 cents in January 2000.

Pretax losses of €14.65m for 2002 were slightly lower than the €15.67m the company lost in 2001.

The company chaired by Tony O’Reilly Jnr had a successful rights issue during the year which raised 28.8, helped to reduce debts of €32.9m in 2001 to a more manageable €10.2 million by the end of 2002.

Commenting on the results chief executive Kevin Ross said: “Despite working in a very depressed global metals environment, I am delighted that we have managed to increase our production rates and reduce our losses.

“I am particularly pleased that our exploration team have discovered a new mineral zone, which doubles the contained metal content of the mine.”

Mr Ross said the discovery has not only delivered a massively rich ore body, but it has confirmed the continued ‘prospectivity’ of the greater Galmoy area.

“In addition, the R Zone is still open and gives hope of finding further tonnage. The gross value of the contained metal in the R Zone resource at current prices is in the order of $400 million. This discovery will extend the mine life into the next decade,” he predicted.

Mr Ross said the company’s exploration team has also identified other gravity anomalies which will be investigated by drilling in the second and third quarters of 2003.

To offset weak zinc prices the company has already made move to fast track the mining of the R Zone.

“An access decline commenced in March, with the aim of mining the R Zone ore in the latter part of 2003,” the company said.