Shares in Minmet, the mineral exploration company, have risen strongly after the company confirmed it had found gold levels at its concession in Devon in south-west England.

The shares dealt up 3/4p to 6 3/4p in Dublin, and in London - where there has been huge volume trading in the shares on speculation on a gold find in Devon - the shares rose 1p to 6 3/4p sterling. This compares with a share price of 4p at the beginning of the year. Turnover in the shares in London yesterday was almost 16 million shares

The gold levels have been found by Minmet's 75 per cent-owned subsidiary, Crediton Minerals after a lengthy phase of exploratory drilling. The company says the finding of the gold levels is "very encouraging".

Further work will need to be done, it says, to investigate the exact gold enrichment and its "mineralogical associations".

"The tenor of these results strongly support further exploration work and a second phase of diamond core drilling to delineate the extent of gold mineralisation," said Minmet director, Mr Michael Nolan.

After the next phase of drilling, which will take about two years, the company intends to apply for a mining licence to mine the gold. While further drilling will need to be done to discover exactly how much is present, Mr Nolan said samples indicated levels in excess of two grammes per tonne. He said the company was not interested in selling its interests in Crediton Minerals. He said the company had raised £1 million in a recent share placing and this would make it easy to further develop the Devon site.

The gold is in an area known as the Crediton Trough, which is to the north and west of Exeter. The mineral has been found within a body of volcanic strata, with the most enriched zone towards the base of the structure.

Meanwhile, the company is confident of being awarded a mining licence for the Castromil gold mine in Spain in the near future. Minmet's interest in the mine comes from its 57.9 per cent stake in Connary Minerals.

The mine at Catromil is likely to produce about 1.9 grammes of gold per tonne, said Mr Nolan.