An Irish company named Persian Gold was formed in 2003 to prospect for gold in Iran. The Islamic Republic gave its all the required permits and licenses to work at four sites along the eastern ridge of the Zagros Mountains.
In 2008, the Irish company found a good supply of gold at two of the sites and submitted the paperwork to shift from prospecting to actual mining. The firm last week said it has waited three years without any action by the Iranian government. Therefore, it is giving up and leaving Iran, simply abandoning its investment there.
There was speculation that some Iranian company might want to take over the mining operation and that the Mines Ministry had stalled on Persian Gold’s mining license at the urging of the Iranian firm. But Persian Gold made no such allegation.
Chairman John Teeling said it had proven “impossible” to obtain the required discovery certificate and development license needed to start actual mining. Therefore, the board decided to write off the projects. Teeling said he expected the equipment and other mining gear would be sold off “in due course.”
A year ago, Persian Gold bought an oil firm working in Africa and the Americas. It changed its name to Clontarf Energy. By now abandoning its Iranian venture, the company has changed itself from an exclusively mining company into an exclusively petroleum business.
Two of Persian Gold’s four projects in Iran had been taken over from Rio Tinto, a British-Australian mining firm that left Iran a few years ago.
Teeling said last year, “Despite the best efforts of our team in Iran, our Iranian partners and the diplomatic service, no pro-gress has been made in obtaining discovery certificates. Representations have been made to the Iranian authorities at frequent intervals during 2009 and 2010, but to no avail. We were informed that all procedures were in order and that we could expect the issuance of the certificates. So far, nothing has happened.”