Professor Richard Conroy has been involved in natural resources for many years. He established Trans-International Oil, which was primarily involved in Irish offshore oil exploration. Trans-International Oil initiated the Deminex Consortium which included Deminex, Mobil, Amoco and DSM. Trans-International Oil was merged with Aran Energy plc in 1979, which was later acquired by Statoil.
Professor Conroy founded Conroy Petroleum and Natural Resources P.l.c. (“Conroy Petroleum”). Conroy Petroleum was involved in both onshore and offshore oil production and exploration and also in mineral exploration. Conroy Petroleum, in 1986, made the very significant discovery of the Galmoy zinc deposits in County Kilkenny later developed as a major zinc mine. The discovery at Galmoy led to the revival of the Irish base metal industry and to Ireland becoming an international zinc province.
Conroy Petroleum was also a founding member of the Stoneboy consortium, which included Sumitomo, an exploration group which discovered the world class Pogo gold deposit in Alaska, now in production as a major gold mine.
Conroy Petroleum acquired Atlantic Resources plc in 1992 and subsequently changed its name to ARCON International Resources plc (“ARCON”). The oil and gas interests in ARCON were transferred to form Providence Resources plc. ARCON was later acquired by Lundin Mining Corporation.
