IVERNIA West has got a positive response to its £41 million rights issue, with shareholders holding over 89 per cent of the shares opting to take up their rights.

The Ivernia rights issue - which is in the form of loan stock - is unusual to the extent that shareholders who take up their rights will pay up in two instalments, with 40p per unit of loan stock being paid immediately and a further 40p per unit being payable no earlier than the final grant of planning permission for its Lisheen mine in Tipperary and no later than July 1st 1998.

The first partly-paid phase of the rights issue saw shareholders stake up 46 million of the 51.5 million units of loan stock on offer at 40p each.

The balance of the partly-paid loan stock - 5.54 million units - was placed in the market by Riada Stockbrokers at a 1.6p premium over the 40p offer price.

Last week, Ivernia and its partner in the development of the Lisheen lead-zinc orebody, Minorco, were given planning permission for the £120 million mining development by Tipperary County Council and hopes to begin construction by the end of the year.

This construction schedule will depend, however, on whether the planning approval is appealed to Bord Pleanala.

Once the development goes ahead, there would be around 700 jobs in the construction phase which will take two years. When the mine is fully operational 200 would be employed.

The money raised through the rights issue will fund most of Ivernia's share of the construction costs while discussions are currently in progress with banks on the project's debt portion.