Conroy increases gold estimate

CONROY Diamonds & Gold has significantly upgraded its judgment with regard to exactly what kind of reserves its gold prospect at Clontibret in Co Monaghan holds.

The Dublin-headquartered exploration company has upped its estimations for indicated gold reserves in the Clontibret area of its overall Longford-Down Massif mining interest by more than 200% from 64,000 ounces to 200,000 ounces.

The area at which the company has undertaken further appraisal and evaluation work only comprises about 20% of its mining interest in the Clontibret region.

As a result, the company said it is confident that a considerable further increase in its forecast for gold reserves in the area will be found from further appraisal work.

“The upgrade in itself represents further significant progress at Clontibret, but we expect that additional work on the target area, including drilling, will result in a substantial increase in the total size of the resource,” said chairman Professor Richard Conroy after the company’s annual general meeting in Dublin yesterday.

Prof Conroy added that, in terms of an overall timescale, it will probably be another 18 months to two years before the company gains planning permission to build a commercial gold mine in the Co Monaghan area.

Prof Conroy also said that the company is still considering entering a farm-out agreement with an international player in order to advance drilling and exploration work in the area.

Prof Conroy said yesterday that such a move was “still very much on the cards”.