Veteran entrepreneur John Teeling is planning to bring yet another resources company to market. Some time in the second week of July, Connemara Resources will list on the Alternative Investment Market in London.
Teeling and his Clontarf-based colleagues took the decision this week and are even considering a secondary listing on the IEX in Dublin, which would be a first for the 61-year-old businessman. Connemara Resources holds 22 lead and zinc licences in Ireland, mostly around Limerick and the west coast. Some early-stage seismic work has already begun. The company also has a gold licence in Co Wicklow.
Teeling is planning to raise about £1 million (€1.46 million) in a placing of shares at 19p each. His track record is mixed. African Diamonds, a Botswana project being developed with De Beers, is the jewel in the crown, while the likes of Petrel, Pan Andean Resources, Persian Gold and Minco, to name but a few, have all bobbed around with varying degrees of success.
With Connemara, Teeling is hoping to cash in on the high price of zinc on world markets. It is trading close to $4,000 (€2,978) a tonne, roughly treble where it was at the turn of the decade.
That's the upside. The downside is that, even if Teeling pressed the button today on moving towards zinc production, it could be five or six years before the planning, technical work and construction is complete.
