Conroy confirms Clay Lake gold find

CONROY Diamonds & Gold – the Irish gold and precious metals exploration company – has confirmed the significant existence of gold at its newest resource at Clay Lake in Co Armagh.

Earlier this year, the Dublin-headquartered AIM-listed firm, said that its combined operations here – between Clay Lake and the older and larger Clontibret asset in Co Monaghan – potentially contained between 15m and 20m ounces of gold. A recent “gold-in-soil” discovery at Clay Lake, located just seven kilometres north-east of Clontibret – led the company’s chairman, Professor Richard Conroy to say that the possibilities were “exciting”, before further exploration work confirmed any true magnitude.

Yesterday, however, Conroy announced that latest rock chip sampling confirmed the presence of gold in the bedrock of the Clay Lake target. Four samples taken from a 100 metre section of the target contained gold – with the highest sample showing 1.31 grammes per tonne of gold.

“We are very pleased that our follow-up work on part of the large Clay Lake soil anomaly has found gold in the bedrock, confirming both a local source for the anomaly itself and increasing the likelihood that the Clay Lake gold nugget, found in a stream bed in the 1980s, is also locally derived. These results enhance the significance of the Clay Lake area and increase its standing as a discovery ranking alongside our Clontibret property,” Prof Conroy said yesterday.

This marks the second major announcement from Conroy in the last few weeks. Last month, the company said that ongoing development work at its operations around counties Monaghan and Armagh located “extensive zinc-in-soil anomalies”, raising hopes that the company could be sitting on a very significant zinc discovery along the border.

While gold remains Conroy’s main priority, further exploration work on the potential zinc asset will continue. “If confirmed, this would be a welcome addition to the well-established gold potential on the company’s licence areas,” Prof Conroy said at the time.

Meanwhile, yesterday, another Irish exploration company – Kenmare Resources – announced that it is to place 54 million new ordinary shares in circulation, aimed at raising £10.3 million (€12.1m).

Kenmare – whose chief asset is the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in Mozambique – will use the placing to “ensure that the company continues to retain sufficient liquidity to meet its obligations and provide further financial resources to accelerate production expansion plans.”

Aminex – the Dublin and London-listed oil and gas exploration company – has also announced plans to raise up to £8.8m through a share placing programme.