People: Bentley revs up

Gold in the hills of Scotland is the prospect dangled before investors by John Bentley, chairman of AIM arrival Scotgold Resources, which he hopes will start producing gold and silver next year from Cononish in the Grampians. Bentley, who also sits on the board of entrepreneur Ian Gowrie Smith’s New Zealand AIM float Kea Petroleum, and chief executive Chris Sangster, intend to revive this former gold and silver mine, which boasts a modest initial estimated resource of 154,000 oz of gold and 589,000 oz of silver.

Already listed Down Under, where it is backed by sector player Shane Sadleir, Scotgold recently raised £704,000 at 4.6p through nominated adviser and broker Westhouse Securities when it floated on AIM. Bentley and Sangster believe the Cononish deposit, where the average gold grade is a respectable 11.9 grammes per tone of ore, can be significantly increased by further exploration.

Another company, Ennex International, originally discovered Cononish in 1985, but subsequent plunges in the gold price meant it was never mined. Scotgold says it is now fully funded to finish its development plan by May with a view to starting production in the middle of next year.