The Irish stock market may have its faults, but any company thinking that a move to a bigger market with a larger pool of potential investors is a guarantee of success should look at Ivernia's miserable experience since it moved its listing to Toronto late last year.

With one of the biggest zinc mines in Europe, that seemed like a good idea - at the time. But since then, Ivernia has slumped from a high of one Canadian dollar (#0.73) to 25 Canadian cents this week, not helped by cost overruns at the Lisheen mine, which meant that partner Anglo American had to fund Ivernia's share of the overrun to the tune of 4.5 million Canadian dollars. The halt to zinc production because of water problems at Lisheen also did not help matters. Now Ivernia has brought in a new chairman, Mr Trevor Eyton, to replace the retiring Mr Clayton Love. Mr Eyton, with extensive experience in the mining business and a list of blue-chip Canadian directorships, should help give Ivernia some more visibility with investors.