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Shares of Saul’s treasure-hunting firm dive 10%

Treasure trove: Some of the hundreds of silver bars recovered from the SS Gairsoppa site by a crew from Odyssey

Shares in Dr David Saul’s Odyssey Marine Exploration dived after the company delayed salvaging more silver from two shipwrecks in the North Atlantic.Odyssey said it would delay retrieving millions of ounces of silver until next spring due to weather conditions.Odyssey, famous for finding the $500 million Black Swan wreck off Portugal in 2007, posted a loss in the quarter ended June and had said it expected to recoup its losses from selling the silver it recovered from the SS Gairsoppa and SS Mantola.Odyssey, which has already recovered about $44 million in silver bullion from the Gairsoppa, said it believes the ship still holds about 1.8 million ounces of insured silver and a large amount of uninsured silver.At current prices, the insured silver is worth about $60 million.The company said it believes there may be 600,000 ounces of insured silver, worth about $20.4 million, on the SS Mantola.The ship is about 15,000 feet below the ocean surface, about 300 miles off the coast of Ireland, and may hold seven million ounces of silver.Shares of the Tampa, Florida-based company closed down 10.4 percent in trading on the Nasdaq yesterday, having earlier dipped by as much as 20 percent.In July, former Premier Dr Saul, a founder and director of Odyssey, told The Royal Gazette: “Odyssey has recovered only 20 percent of what is on board up to the moment. However, with silver around $30 an ounce, the prospects for the shareholders of Odyssey are excellent, either way.”

Former Premier David Saul