The Irish exploration and development company Conroy Gold and Natural Resources has raised €750,000 through a share placing.

Conroy. which is planning to develop a gold mine at Clontibret in Co Monaghan, said it raised the funds through an oversubscribed placing of 75,000,000 ordinary shares of €0.01 in the capital of the company at a price of 1 pence sterling per share.

As part of the placing, Mr Patrick O’Sullivan subscribed for 20,000,000 shares, taking his stake in the company to 50,714,546 shares on admission. This is equivalent to 11.8 per cent of Conroy’s enlarged share capital.

"I am extremely pleased to announce the oversubscribed fundraising of £750,000 which will enable the company to progress its Clontibret Project one step closer towards production," said Prof Richard Conroy, the company's chairman.

“The resources market continues to be challenging and we feel the overwhelming support we have received from new and current shareholders is testament to our plans to develop what will be the first significant gold mine in the Republic of Ireland in modern times,” he added.