News

April 21, 2008

Minera IRL Moves Firmly Into Production

By Alastair Ford

“We kind of bristled at being called a junior exploration company. Our background is in operations at development”. So says Courtenay Chamberlain, executive chairman of Minera IRL, and he’s about to ram the point home with maiden production numbers from the company’s Corihumai project in Peru. The company poured its first gold on 15th March. There have been three subsequent pours, and to date production stands at 4,200 ounces. So Minera is still very much a junior, but there’s more to the company than just exploration.

It was always the plan to be a small producing company, a plan that accounts for Minera’s choice, back in April 2007, to list on Aim, rather against the prevailing currents. The Canadians love a junior, and they’re pretty keen on South America, where Minera has its assets. What they’re less keen on, according to Mr Chamberlain, is junior producers. The preference is instead for junior explorers with huge upside. Conversely, production is exactly what London does appreciate, so in spite of Mr...