In short

A round up of today's other finance stories in brief

Minco losses soar to $2.8m after sale of stake in Mexican operation

Losses at Minco, the AIM-quoted exploration group, almost trebled last year to $2.8 million (€1.77 million).

The loss, which compares to a figure of $1 million in 2006, was primarily due to the sale, in June 2007, of the firm's 50 per cent interest in Mexican mining operation Minera Sisa. The firm intends to concentrate on the development of Pallas Green, a zinc-lead exploration project in Co Limerick, in which it holds a 23.6 per cent interest, along with joint-venture partner Xstrata.

In 2007, about 16,000m of drilling was completed with a total expenditure of €1.7 million, but the budget has been increased to €6 million for 2008 and the planned drilling quadrupled to 50,000m.

The Pallas Green project is believed to be the biggest exploration drilling programme undertaken in the 50-year history of the modern Irish mining industry.

Indaver to start building incinerator

Waste management specialist Indaver will begin building its €130 million incinerator in Duleek, Co Meath, next month.

The company said yesterday that the plant was due to be up and running in 2011.

Indaver said it would burn about 200,000 tonnes of waste a year and produce enough energy to provide electricity to 20,000 homes.

Managing director John Ahern said it would employ 60 staff when operating, while 300 would be employed during the construction phase.

Pensions lose 14.9% in first half of 2008

Pensions lost an average of 14.9 per cent in value in the first half of the year, according to the Hewitt Irish managed fund index, published yesterday.

During what Hewitt executive director Deborah Reidy described as a "particularly difficult 12 months for all pension funds", the index showed a fall of 21 per cent.

This compares with a fall of 42 per cent by Irish equities over the same period.

The Hewitt index shows that, over the past three years, funds have grown by just 1.9 per cent a year.

New Providence Resources financial officer

Philip O'Quigley has been appointed chief financial officer of oil and gas explorer Providence Resources, following the resignation of Stephen Carroll due to health reasons.

Mr O'Quigley has held senior executive positions in a number of oil, gas and mining businesses over the past 17 years, including Glencar Mining, where he was finance director from 1997 to 2002, and Petroceltic, where he was also finance director.

Boundary Capital re-elects board

Private-equity firm Boundary Capital re-elected its board of directors at its annual general meeting yesterday.

Chairman Niall McFadden, along with non-executive directors Denis Patrick Murphy, Michael Walsh and Eugene McCague, were all re-elected. The firm also passed a special resolution allowing directors to disapply pre-emption provisions in connection with share issuance.