Exploration veteran Richard Conroy ‘was an entrepreneur to the very end’

Whether they be oil firms, or gold diggers, Irish corporate history is replete with examples of companies that have raised fortunes from shareholders – enthused by the potential of striking it big.

Professor Richard Conroy was a seasoned veteran of the mineral exploration business. He has died at the age of 91 after a short illness.

While Prof Conroy kept the faith for decades that his exploration ventures would yield riches from gold and diamonds, he acknowledged even in 2005 that shareholders would have to wait an indeterminate amount of time to make any money.

"At the moment shareholders who followed me into gold exploration are showing a loss, and hopefully that will change," he told me in 2005 as Conroy Diamond and Gold advanced a project in Omagh.

"But that's the reality," he added. "We've had a situation where our exploration results have been excellent, but as regards the market, nobody paid the slightest bit of notice. So our price steadily went down as we raised funds for exploration. You have to be prepared that it may take several years to prove your point."

He did, however, discover and help develop the Galmoy zinc mine in Co Kilkenny, which is now closed but which for a number of years was a significant exporter of the mineral.

Born in Birmingham, his father was the head of the department of Spanish at a university there. When Richard Conroy was just five, they moved back to Ireland.

His father died soon after, leaving his mother to raise him and his brother. Richard Conroy later studied at the Royal College of Surgeons and became the chair of physiology there.

He was elected a Fianna Fáil senator in 1977 and continued his business interests.

We had raised about £100,000 and made about a million out of it. That was our first big introduction to big business

A consortium he was involved in located oil at Fastnet that decade and he later established Conroy Petroleum and Natural Resources.

"My brother and I put up £20,000 to set it up and we didn't have that money then," he noted in a 2015 Sunday Independent interview with Donal Lynch regarding Fastnet.

"We made a lot of money out of it after merging with Aran Energy," he added. "We had raised about £100,000 and made about a million out of it. That was our first big introduction to big business."

He also helped to locate the Pogo gold mine in Alaska, still in production today.

In that same interview, he said he had no intention of retiring, preferring continued involvement in the cut-and-thrust of the business world.

"Richard will be missed by us all," said Conroy Gold deputy chairman John Sherman.

"His immense contribution to and achievements within medicine, Irish politics, and mineral exploration globally earned him the respect of all. He was an entrepreneur to the very end, building a vision that Ireland would become a world leader in exploration and mining."