'It's set us back a year': The row tearing apart this Irish gold company heats up
Conroy Gold’s heated boardroom battle is set for a court showdown.
A FIERCE ROW at an Irish gold company has seen the firm lose a year’s work, according to the company’s founder.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast Business, Richard Conroy, the chairman of Conroy Gold, admitted that the company’s attempts to open a gold mine in Monaghan are progressing very slowly, but he insisted that a plan is in place.
Conroy is currently locked in a bitter battle with his company’s largest shareholder, Patrick O’Sullivan.
As previously examined by Fora, O’Sullivan is a long-time investor in Conroy Gold who thinks that the firm has been too slow in developing a working gold mine.
Although the firm was set up in 1995, it has yet to mine any gold. O’Sullivan says that new blood is needed on the company’s board to re-energise it, while Richard Conroy has insisted that things are going to plan.
This culminated in a showdown at a recent emergency general meeting, in which O’Sullivan tried to force the resignation of six of the company’s nine board members and appoint three recommended by him, including himself.
This would have given O’Sullivan a much greater say in how the company is run, although Professor Conroy would still have held the deciding vote as chairman in any potential tied decision.
However, while he was successful in removing the six directors, Richard Conroy ruled against a motion to elect O’Sullivan’s three nominees, citing legal advice.
Patrick O'Sullivan
Court battle
O’Sullivan is seeking to overturn the decision and has taken the matter to the High Court. The case is due to be heard in about two weeks. Since the meeting Conroy has appointed two new non-executive directors to the company board.
Speaking today to Newstalk about the row, Conroy said that it has wounded the company.
“We’ve lost this drilling season. It’s put us back a year, it’s doing a tremendous amount of damage,” he said.
“We’re at the stage to execute this strategy and go forward and I think what’s happened has done a lot of damage, at the very least it’s considerably delayed us.
“We have a major property, something which could be of great significance to the company and to the people of Monaghan.”
Conroy conceded that development of the potential goldmine in Monaghan has been very slow.
However, he added: “We have a very clear strategy for developing the major gold mine (and) if you’re going to do something like a major mine and something I hope will last for many years to come, you’ve got to get it right from the beginning.”
