Farmers unfazed by zinc ‘discoveries’
The reason they are cautious is that they have heard the same story on several occasions over the past 25 years, with little tangible follow-up evidence that they might be poised to reap riches from beneath the ground.
Yet, the latest reports from exploration company Minco sound more optimistic that any others that emerged in the past, and have led to much speculation.
The company says that recent drilling at its Pallasgreen, Co Limerick project, a joint venture with Noranda Exploration, a major Canadian mining company, has detected a “significant” zone of zinc and lead.
Minco chief executive Matthew Dorman said the success to date of the drilling programme confirms the company’s belief that the project is one of the best zinc assets in Ireland.
“As much of the area still remains relatively unexplored, a third drill rig is to be added to the exploration programme immediately. We believe that Pallasgreen holds significant potential for an economic zinc discovery,” he said.
The area has been of particular interest to geologists for several decades, during which some 150 holes have been drilled there.
It was reported in 2002 that the finds from holes drilled that year included a new and extensive zone north of Caherconlish that’s comparable to the mineralisation around the Silvermines, Co Tipperary ore bodies.
Minco said at the time that the drilling programme was zeroing in on what it hoped would be a large ore body, and while it stressed that nothing was certain in exploration, the indications were very encouraging.
But the zinc industry then went into the doldrums, decimating exploration budgets, before bouncing back last year with prices reaching a seven year high on the London Metal Market Exchange.
Drilling recommenced in the Pallasgreen area and, earlier this month, the company reported exciting results, fuelling further speculation.
However, Minco’s Dr John Teeling said in an interview that development of the find, reported to stretch over 25 kilometers, was still some way off.
Limerick IFA chairman Michael Roche said little was known locally about the findings, but a lot of surveying had taken place in the area over the years.
No approaches for land had been made to any local farmers, as far as he was aware, he said, confirming there had been a low-key local reaction so far.
Limerick County Councillor Noel Gleeson, who’s from nearby Cappamore, said the only thing he knew about the matter was that the mining company was supposed to have had good results from its more recent exploration work.
“That area was tested before and there were supposed to be encouraging results,” he said, adding that the latest reports had not generated any great excitement.
IFA president John Dillon, who hails from Pallasgreen, said there was a certain amount of speculation about the reports that the recent drilling programme had indicated a significant zone of lead and zinc in the area, but there had been similar accounts in past years.
Meanwhile, data published in the website of the London-based International Lead and Zinc Study Group has reported that zinc consumption grew by 1.4% to 5.3 million tons in the first four months of this ear, beating total production of finished metal by 60,000 tons.
