Bada-Bing, Bada-Boom – Treasure Hunters Score 2nd Major Find

Odyssey Marine Exploration has discovered another shipwrecked British vessel loaded with a shipment of silver, only 100 miles from a recent discovery confirmed last month. Shares of Odyssey Marine soared 14% to $3 in premarket trade on word of the discovery.

Odyssey, said its newest discovery is the SS Mantola, which sank Feb. 9, 1917, after being torpedoed by a German submarine. The company estimates about 600,000 ounces of silver could be on board the ship. Under a salvage agreement with the U.K. government, Odyssey will be able to keep 80% of the cargo.

“The incremental costs to search for the Mantola were low, as this was a contingency project in the event that our team successfully completed the Gairsoppa search early,” said Odyssey President Mark Gordon.

The company last month confirmed the identity and location of the shipwrecked SS Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British ship that was carrying 7 million ounces of silver, a load Odyssey said could be the largest known precious metal cargo ever recovered at sea.

Odyssey has begun the process of assembling the tools and equipment for the expedition to salvage the Gairsoppa and Mantola, and anticipates that operations will begin next spring. Gordon said the company’s share of a successful recovery will contribute significantly to its operational funding.

-By Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires

Video Of The Find

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