Edmonds spins a mining line and the market rates it a catch

Cricketing legend turned businessman Phil Edmonds yesterday watched a £3m stake in a mining shell company turn into a £23m paper fortune by the stock market's close of play.

With his business partner Andrew Groves, Mr Edmonds, a left arm spinner who played for Middlesex and England in the 1980s, has a 20% stake in would-be oil exploration company White Nile. Yesterday it was admitted to Aim at 10p a share and the shares soared 645% to close at 74.5p.

The value of the company, which aims to "identify and acquire projects in the natural resources sector with particular emphasis on oil projects within Africa", rocketed from £15m to £115m.

White Nile, which raised £9m from institutions and private investors before listing, said it is "negotiating with the new government of South Sudan regarding certain oil concessions".

A spokesman said the huge rise in the share price was the result of "a lot of demand ... Andrew Groves has a reputation for delivering projects. Their model - raising finance, launching a shell and early stage development - has been proved to work."

White Nile is the fourth natural resources exploration firm Mr Groves and Mr Edmonds have brought to Aim. In November they were behind Central African Mining and Exploration, which has gold and tantalum investments in Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa. It listed at 4.5p and is now changing hands at 11p.

They were also behind Capricorn Resources, which went from 1.5p to 13p and is now trading around 5p, and South African Resources, a platinum exploration group which climbed from 2p to 42p last November and is now trading around 34p.

Mr Edmonds, 53, had a reputation as a colourful bon viveur in his cricketing days and had regular clashes with the cricketing authorities.

Since retiring he has held directorships at more than 40 companies, not all of them successful, in activities ranging from Russian investments to Philippines gold, financial services and property. Yesterday he was in South Africa and unavailable for comment.

Exploration companies hoping to cash in on the natural resources of developing countries are a current stock market favourite, with some analysts comparing the appetite for such companies to the internet boom of the late 1990s.