London-listed Conroy Diamonds and Gold yesterday said it had found further evidence of economic gold deposits during exploratory drilling of its prospect at Cargalisgorran, Co Armagh.

Chairman Prof Richard Conroy told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Dublin that the latest drill had discovered a deposit with a grading of 0.97 grammes of gold per tonne of rock.

He said it represented part of a "mineralised structure" which had returned grades of up to 5.49 grammes per tonne.

"The company views the latest intersection as highly encouraging at what is a very early stage of the current exploration programme," he said.

"It reinforces Conroy's belief that Cargalisgorran has the potential to become an economically important gold deposit."

The find is in part of the Monaghan-Armagh gold belt, which makes up 60 sq k of Conroy's 1,500 sq k licensed area stretching between counties Longford and Down.

Speaking after the meeting, Prof Conroy said it was not possible to say when its various prospects in the area would be developed. He pointed out that exploratory work on the Galmoy zinc deposit began in 1981, but the mine did not go into production until 1996.

He added that it was likely that Conroy would ultimately develop jointly with a multinational mining company.

The meeting re-elected non-executive directors Dr Pamela Conroy and Mr Louis J Maguire to the board.