Latest find fuels hope for resource company

ONE MORE THING: LITTLE-KNOWN London-quoted, Irish resource group Belmore Resources announced a significant find in the past week.

The Dublin-based company holds a handful of exploration licences in Co Clare and has announced that recent drilling has intersected "highly significant" levels of zinc and lead.

The results include 10 metres at 13.84 per cent zinc, 5.52 per cent lead and 62.84 gm/tonne silver. These are the kind of discoveries that interest mining companies at a time when lead and zinc prices are supported by strong demand from the booming economies of India and China.

Belmore is working close to the Lisheen and Galmoy ore bodies and the recently discovered mineralisation at Caherconlish area of Co Limerick.

Belmore director Patrick Mahony said about €2 million probably needs to be spent on more drill holes - the kind of money that the exploration minnow doesn't have.

"We're talking to some of the major mining companies at the moment," he said. "There's certainly a lot more interest now and it's a question of getting the best deal for shareholders."

A joint venture would involve the mining company funding further drilling in return for a large slice of the action.

Ireland is responsible for about 40 per cent of zinc in Europe, with Tara, Galmoy and Lisheen among the biggest producing mines.

Belmore is currently listed on the Plus market in London, formerly Ofex, and has a market value of just £1 million.

Its directors - Mahony and George Emo in Ireland and Ian Forrest in Geneva - are a rare bunch in that they don't draw any salaries or fees from the company. They own about 18 per cent each of the business. "We're all doing this in the hope that we'll land a big discovery," Mr Mahony said.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times