www.connemaramining.com
Connemara Mining Company plc was established in 2006 by veterans of the Irish zinc industry to exploit zinc opportunities in Ireland and currently holds 38 prospecting licences in central and south-west Ireland. Connemara’s licences are for some or all of the base metals (Bm), barite (b), gold (g), silver (s), and platinum group elements (PGE). The Connemara exploration philosophy is trendology and closeology - follow the mineralised trends and obtain ground as close as possible to existing or former zinc/lead mines.
Connemara Mining: Mine River joint venture adds new dimension, says broker
Connemara Mining’s (LON:CON) joint venture at Mine River in Ireland adds a new dimension to a story seen previously as a zinc/lead play, according to Optiva Securities.
Connemara shares jumped 17 per cent after it secured Canadian group Hendrick Resources as a partner to explore the Mine River project.
“The discovery of over 1 million ounces of gold by Conroy Gold and Natural Resources further to the north shows what can be achieved,” said Optiva.
“We continue to believe a market cap of £2.4 mln is simply too low for a situation that provides investors with exposure to the Stonepark zinc discoveries that lie adjacent to Xstrata’s Pallas Green deposit containing 25 mln tonnes of 9 per cent combined zinc/lead,” Optiva added.
“Along with newsflow from ongoing exploration work at Stonepark in the Teck JV, we can now look forward to exploration results from the Hendrick JV gold project at Mine River in the near future.”
The broker added that Connemara could also conclude similar joint ventures on 100 per cent owned blocks at Oldcastle, Thurles and Nenagh.
Using partners will minimise expenditure and maintain cash resources, it said.
Optiva maintained its 50 pence price target, which it said could soon be revised upwards once more data comes out of Mine River in the coming months.
Mine River includes four contiguous prospecting licences covering an area of around 130 square kilometres (sq km) on the Wicklow, Wexford border.
Mineralised float samples have shown gold grades of up to 52.18 grammes per tonne (g/t), particularly around the Tombreen and Knocknalour area.
Previous exploration has discovered significant gold occurrences in rocks and rivers in the area of the Mine River licence block.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hendrick will spend €500,000 to earn a 50 percent interest in the licences and has the option to spend a further €500,000 to increase its stake to 75 per cent of the joint venture.
The Canadian company can withdraw from the joint venture at any time with its interest reverting to Connemara.
The partners will start exploration work immediately, including airborne and ground geophysics, geochemistry and subsequent drill testing.
“We are delighted with this joint venture,” said Connemara Mining’s chairman John Teeling.
“Dale Hendrick, founder of Hendrick, is a highly experienced successful figure in Canadian exploration. He is of the opinion that a commercial gold deposit remains to be found in south-east Ireland. This is a view long held by the founders of Connemara.”
“A fresh experienced eye and the application of new and improved exploration techniques, combined with our extensive database offers exciting prospects.”
Connemara traded at 11 pence this morning, up 17 percent from Wednesday’s close.
