Paddy miners: a comparison

Compared to the Canadian and American stock exchanges, there aren't many mining companies listed in Europe and those that we tend to find easily, are not always very promising. But today, I want to shed my light upon three Irish mining pennystock companies: Ovoca Gold PLC (ISE:OVGL), Ormonde Mining PLC (ISE:ORQ) and Kenmare Resources PLC (ISE:KMR). All three also have a London listing. A small comparison:

• First of all, those that are averse to taking any political risks might choose for ORQ, which has all of its mines located in Spain. Au contraire, OVGL has great exposure to Russia and KMR to politically unsafe Mozambique.
• Metals-wise, there are also differences. KMR considers the Moma Titanium Minerals project its main asset. OVGL is mainly active in silver through what is said to potentially be the world's highest grade silver mine: Goltsovoye in Northeast Russia. In addition to that, its Kola Peninsula Exploration projects have gold, copper and molybdenum prospects. ORQ mainly operates gold mines in Spain, but also has prospects for copper, silver, tungsten and antimony (increasingly being used in the semiconductor industry) and recently found zinc at its La Zarza project.
• Not unimportantly, when are these companies planning to start producing? KMR is certainly closest to production, with long-term potential for significant increases in output. ORQ has two projects in advanced evaluation stage: La Zarza (Au/Cu/Ag) and Salamón (Au) and several other projects in early evaluation stage. OVGL hopes to start producing in Q4 2008, which is partly the reason why the stock is so thinly traded.

Obviously, all three have potential. KMR's biggest plus is that its nearing production, but OVGL holds a very attractive silver development asset and has an experienced management team. ORQ however, clearly has the best mix of assets, but has an exploration risk to go with that. KMR seems best for the short term, while ORQ has my preference for the long-term. OVGL - I would say is the riskiest bet, considering the 'juniority' of its projects. But if you want to become filthy rich, you have to take some risks in the end... ORQ can be considered for buying at the current price of EUR 0.24. Update: This post has also been supplied as a column in Dutch to edelmetaal-info.