Ormonde strikes ‘near surface’ gold

The Meath-headquartered mineral exploration firm, Ormonde Mining, has said further drilling work at its Peralonso Permit in Spain’s Salamanca Province further confirms the presence of ‘near surface’ gold.

On the back of the results for the last two drills of an eight-hole programme, at the site in western Spain, the Clonee-based company said the permit may have “significant scale”.

Ormonde’s managing director, Kerr Anderson, said recent prospecting work — carried out about 1.2km east/north- east of the main drilling area — returned “very encouraging results”.

“This suggests that the structures identified to date at Peralonso may have significant scale,” said Mr Anderson.

The prospect forms part of a joint venture Ormonde has with the London-based/ AIM-listed exploration firm, Aurum Mining, and each of the eight holes drilled, to date, have encountered shallow near-surface gold structures.

Ormonde said that the work carried out so far, suggests “several gold-bearing structures, in this area, with considerable strike potential”.

Last month, Ormonde announced that it is hoping to sell its La Zarza copper and gold project in southern Spain, for €5m before the end of the first half of this year.

The company — whose headline asset remains the Barruecopardo Tungsten project in Salamanca, which remains the main focus and should reach commercial production later this year — has signed a binding option with Spanish company Nueva Tharsis.

That company is due to complete due diligence on La Zarza by the middle of May.

This should see it take over 100% ownership of the asset from Ormonde.