Possible zinc mine in Caherconlish

Crea

Given the increase of surveying in the area and recent report from the Limerick Leader it is possible a zinc mine may be estabished in the Caherconlish area.

Has anyone heard anything about this?

What would be the effect to the area and how far around the area will the affected?

I live nearby and am anxious about having a mine nearby.

phog

Early days yet, afaik, this is an initial survey so it may be a bit early to be talking about mining zinc in Co. Limerick.

From an economy and jobs point of view this should be brilliant for the region but like everything this will come at a cost more especially to the locals.

flutered

a lot of money has been spent buying up property, one must assume that some information has been advailable to the purchasers.

Johan_ie

I live in Caherconlish and have been looking into this. The company involved is called Minco. www.minco.ie. It looks like there is a very strong possibility of a mine opening in the region, with operations starting around 2017.
Obviously it will all have to go through the planning process.
I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand it will bring much needed jobs, but I'd have big concerns about living so close to a mine

Crea

They are currently doing a seismic survey from Breary's cross into Caherconlish and all the way to Caherelly. This must be a road distance of over 5 miles. I'm nervous now - how spread out can a mine be??

flutered

hopefully big enough to rescue ireland from the clutches of the ecb/imf.

clint_eastman

just wondering, whats the big concern with living near a mine? I'm from Caherconlish and would see a mine in the location as being a very positive investment.

Agent_99

They are in the next field to me now! It's getting closer :eek:

Johan_ie

My worries would include blasting, pollution, and increased road traffic. Have a look at Tara mine on google maps as an example of the kind of site you will be living near.
The lisheen mine is near the old N8 and there is a stream of artics running 24/7 hauling ore to cork port. Traffic through Caherconlish is bad enough at the moment with mr binman and roadstone trucks without adding this.
I know it's early days and there are no plans published yet but I am concerned.

fleabag

I was in the County Council offices a couple of weeks ago and there are prospecting notices from the same company over a large area from Caherconlish, including Grange, Bruff and Hospital.

Regarding the seismic survey, is this the miles and miles of orange cabling I've been seeing by the side of the R513 road from Caherconlish towards Herbertstown? I passed today and the guys seemed to be winding it back into the truck. It's also from Caherconlish along the back road, almost to Bohermore school.

Agent_99

fleabag wrote: »

I was in the County Council offices a couple of weeks ago and there are prospecting notices from the same company over a large area from Caherconlish, including Grange, Bruff and Hospital.

Regarding the seismic survey, is this the miles and miles of orange cabling I've been seeing by the side of the R513 road from Caherconlish towards Herbertstown? I passed today and the guys seemed to be winding it back into the truck. It's also from Caherconlish along the back road, almost to Bohermore school.

Orange Cables

I was hoping we were getting fiber optic broadband

Ah well maybe some day

Crea

Yup - the orange cables are for the seismic survey (sorry Agent 99) They were running them outside my house yesterday:eek:

i'd love to know where the proposed mine will be although that prob won't be decided untill the results of the survey are in.

jpmg

I live in the Caherconlish area...Mining globally has a terrible reputation and we can't be complacent about the Xstrata / Minco activities.

Mining brings with it a tremendous amount of HGV traffic, dust, environmental damage, land disruption, explosions, risks to those above and below ground. In a recession we might just look at the 'jobs' aspect. Xstrata and other mining companies have a lot to gain if we are complacent here and focus only on the immediate jobs situation instead of the longer term damage that mining in the area will cause. For the moment you can request that Xstrata Mining stay off your own site/land by emailing geophysics@tesla-imc.com and blaneyd@gmail.com. They sent a person around soliciting access to our land and provided those email addresses...I did tell them that I don't want them on our land. There is BIG money for these global mining firms, at the expense of our rural area.

Skill

Xstrata have a poor reputation globally. From a fairly cursory googling, they are facing protests in South Africa, Philippines, Peru, and are being sued in Australia for lead poisoning of a child

limk4liam

Same business going on at the moment in Ballybricken North by a geophysical contractor called TESLA-IMC International Limited on behalf of Teck Ireland Ltd who are an International mining company. This location is about 5km west of Caherconlish. Teck Ltd seem to be pumping a large amount of capital into this surveying as the contractors are from England and working 7days a week. Also they are the same company who had that plane flying low across county Limerick about 8/12 weeks ago surveying from the air for the same thing. Without doubt there is a large amount of some mineral/metal (probably zinc) in an axis between Pallasgreen-Caherconlish-Grange-Herbertstown. Teck Ltd definitely have € signs in their eyes for a huge mine within this area and I can't wait to see what all this surveying finds.

d0nroberto

Looks like to me there are two groups of companies that have licenses in that area for exploration.
Minco & Xstrata have licenses for around Pallas Green to Caherconlish to Ballybricken.
While a pocket is held by Connemara Mining/Limerick Lead & Teck.

Have a look at http://www.mineralsireland.ie
For a map of the areas they are looking in

While you can also see what company has what exploration license e.g. 2529
http://www.mineralsireland.ie/NR/rdonlyres/3645F596-45EB-4F0A-94B5-69FF1F623E21/0/6mthreport31122010.pdf

They must have found a big seam as the seismic survey area seems to be expanding.

steveon

They have been testing as far over as Meanus, Im actually getting fed up of them delaying me everyday, blocking off roads? In what paper have they taken out advertisements informing people what roads they are blocking off and when.

I am delayed about 20mins a day because of them as Im going from newere between Meanus to Holycross, Herbertstown, Loughgur to name but a few places as I am in the process of replacing some broadband aerials.....miffed

I am all for Job creation but Im getting tired of all these delays.

jpmg

If you are being delayed frequently by unexpected road closures, I found out that you can ring and speak with the Annacotty (Co Lmk) County Council Roads Engineer since the surveying compan(ies) are required to liase with him. If these companies are frequently closing the roads and it seems unreasonable, just ring the Annacotty County Council and let them know (061 33 15 44). This particular UK-based surveying company come in and do all their stuff and then go to the next possible mining site wherever that is. They are not focused on whether they are making us late for work/collecting our kids/etc. - Speed and saving money are their focus. If their road closures are unreasonable just ring 061 33 15 44 and it could help to keep the delays to a minimum...or at least get them to let locals know when roads will be closed! if we say nothing the mining/surveying companies will do whatever they like.

steveon

Thanks for that, I think at this stage they are sick of seeing me, I have come across them now about 500 times lol on different roads and they generally seem to wave me on wonder have they read this thread lol

SiobhZero

I also live in the area, have seen the orange cables, had the plane flying over my house every 5 minutes...

At risk of sounding like a conspiratory theorist, if you trawl the internet for info on the mine in Caherconlish/Stonepark, which I have been doing for about a year now, there is surprisingly little new info out there, its as if there is a deliberate tactic of keeping the public and especially the locals in the dark.

This opinion was re-inforced when I spoke to a guy from the ESB who "would" be responsible for installing high powered cables to the mine, he had no knowledge of any mine

I have also spoken to a close relative who has a degree in Environmental Science, she has assured me that the laws are in place to take care of the local environment, I wish I was as sure as she is.

jpmg

Limerick Leader (16 July 2011 page 13) a Mining / Teck Planning Notice - notice says "DISCHARGE OF EFFLUENT TO WATERS - Teck Ireland Ltd. plans to apply for a licence to discharge trade effluent to groundwater." The notice says Drilling fluids and Effluent may take place across Beabus, Rathmore, Crecora, Rockfield, Williamstown, Ballyneety, Rochestown, Fedamore, Stonepark, Lough Gur Areas, and Herbertstown."

I'm not so sure that I want 'discharge of trade effluents' in the water around our local area. There is no planning notice number / reference number. Anyone know what the planning process is here as I want to keep an eye on this and I'm concerned that it's not handled in a transparent way as it's underground activity etc.

fleabag

Ah wonderful - "drilling fluids" and effluent possibly heading for Lough Gur.

jimoc

fleabag wrote: »

Ah wonderful - "drilling fluids" and effluent possibly heading for Lough Gur.

Might actually improve the quality of the water there.
We took our puppy up there at the weekend and I couldn't believe how bad the water looked.
I remember when you could actually see the bottom of that lake.

jpmg

Loch Gur is a beautiful and peaceful place that does not have significant rivers or streams feeding the lake, so the water quality varies. Zinc mining effluents will add lead, arsenic, zinc, chromium, iron and other muddy junk to Loch Gur and area water bodies...somehow I don't think that's going to help! Mining companies have a bad reputation since they take what they want and leave behind a big ugly mess. I'm worried and want to understand what can be done to preserve the environment in the area. Any practical / logical ideas?

fleabag

Now I don't know a thing about this but if the company is applying for a licence is it possible to object to the granting of said licence? Also are there any local or national environmental groups that might know more about the implications of effluent discharge and mining in general? Local TD's?

First step though is maybe a call to the Council to find out more about the licence and how to object if necessary/possible.

Xennon

http://www.minco.ie/newsReleases/2011/MIO_(Sale%20of%20Pallas%20Green)_20110713.pdf

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-05/glencore-may-seek-xstrata-merger-in-11-months-bernstein-says.html

Welcome Glencore.........

flutered

ah yes, then it is passed on again to another company for yet more bucks, another cash cow one has to presume,

Xennon

If someone would be as good as to put up a summary of Glencore I would appreciate it as Im busy at the moment, however I do think that their history is worth noting.

After all, even the American government are afraid of them.

fleabag

There's obviously enough promise in this Pallas Green site to interest one of the leading zinc production companies together with over a hundred potential drill sites still to check.

Having seen a few of the drill sites around, I was wondering how do they get permission to drill in the first place - can land owners object?

"17.6 million tonnes of inferred resources" would sure leave a big hole in Caherconlish. I'd be really interested to have more information about this as it doesn't seem as if these companies are hanging around.

Agent_99

Why would the land owners object, the rig only takes up about 4m sq and rumor has it they get €100 per day (iirc) for it to be on their land.

They can camp in my garden for that type of money

veyron

hey anyone hearing anything on the progrss of the mine in pallasgreen and caherconlish

flutered

the rumour mill has it that the drilling is been started from the roadstone quarry in ballyneety, it is to be all underground, thus no damage to any land or buildings thus no payouts to anyone.

veyron

very clever !! any start date planned or anything about jobs?//

ABEasy

flutered wrote: »

the rumour mill has it that the drilling is been started from the roadstone quarry in ballyneety, it is to be all underground, thus no damage to any land or buildings thus no payouts to anyone.

That absolutely incorrect, no activity in roadstone (except a bit of theft and arson)

Tonka

hello everyone , I'm an Irish mining engineer and have worked at Lisheen, Tara and Kilroot mines.

The Pallas Green is an exploration project. It is not a mining project. Exploration is the finding of minerals in the ground.
Mining is the getting to and excavating of a commercially viable mineral deposit. That is; it is worth the time and effort to dig the dirt out of the ground and mill it, ship it and sell it and still make a profit.
Milling is were the rock extracted by mining is processed to extract the valuable minerals.

To determine if the rock beneath your feet is economical for mining, requires many years of exploration.

There have been many more exploration companies start up and fail to find economic deposits, or find deposits that are not viable due to global demand and price of the mineral. Exploration is risky and just like playing poker, its all about confidence and risk aversion.

Exploration would start as a desktop study or/and low tech prospecting. Prospecting is an art and prospectors tend to just have a "knack" or an eye for finding samples or possible locations for minerals. A prospector finding a lump of mineral does not mean a mine is going to be built.

From prospecting and desk studies and exploration company will usually focus on the most likely target area to begin further more detailed exploration.

Further detailed exploration includes, (from macro scale down)regional magnetic aerial survey, surface seismic survey, localised detailed aerial survey, soil sampling, water sampling, chipping of exposed bedrock, regional drilling. If regional drilling hits an interesting formation "step out drilling" (say on a 400m spacing for zinc) will occur around the initial drill hole. If a neighbouring hole hits the same formation as predicted the confidence in the formation increases. Depending on various factors the exploration may continue step out drilling to find the extents of the formation, after so many holes "infill drilling" may occur. Infill drilling is as it says on the tin, between holes in the step out pattern more holes are drilled. Depending on the type of mineral, formation, value of mineral and what level of confidence investors want, the infill spacing may vary from 200m to 30m.

That's not to say a drill rig will start drilling every 30m on surface. Drill rigs usually will sit at one site and drill several holes fanned out to intercept the formation may 1-400m below surface. intercepting the formation at the infill spacing.

Drilling is not the end of exploration. The samples recovered from the drill hole is carefully loggied by geologists, cut and any interesting samples tested.

The more exploration is done on a deposit the more confidence there is to determine weather it is (a)worth continuing the exploration progam , (b)start the economic studies for a commercial mine, or (c) walk away as there is nothing there.

Exploration is a risky business and the big companies tend not to get involved until the confidence in the mineral being there is increased/ ie the risk is reduced. Which is why most initial exploration discoveries are made by junior exploration companies ie Minco, Belmore, Connemara. All exploration companies have to generate funds based upon positive results from exploration activity.

Exploration has to be viewed optimistically, rosey-tinted, so exploration companies tend to talk up their activity.

Xstrata and Teck formed joint ventures with the Irish Junior companies, and eventually bought out the juniors shares in the licenses as the majors started to see confidence in Pallas Green increase.

Mines are costly things to develop. We're not talking about Jimmy Joe and has JCB and Massey Ferguson. (though Jimmy Joe will have been busy during exploration work, and continue to have work during mining) One project in Europe I worked on required 110millions dollars worth of mining equipment and we hired 250 miners within 9 months. Every mine is different, and I have no idea what Xstrata and Teck are looking at.

Galmoy mine is closed, Lisheen is closing in a couple of years and Tara is closing circa 2018. Tara along has about 700+ people employed. For every person working at a mine there are 6 indirect jobs outside of the mine, hoteliers, laundries, hardware suppliers, delivery drivers, environmental and health and safety regulators, IT support, office supplies, grounds keepers, and plenty of work for Jimmy Joe and his tractor.

At the time of its construction Lisheen mine was probably the best example of environmentally friendly mining operation in Europe. The Lisheen Deposit was discovered in April 1990 and development of the mine began in 1997. In September 1999 the first (production) ore was brought to the surface.

So it took 7 years of exploration from initial discovery to actually construction of a mine to begin. Then it took 2 years to access the mineral underground, build the mill and actually start shipping mineral off site. During the construction period local roads were upgraded to accommodate the increased traffic.

During exploration in the late 1960s and early 1970s identified sporadic occurrences of lead and zinc in the larger area around Lisheen known as the Rathdowney Trend.

Teck, Xstrata/Glencore, and to a lessor extent Lundin are at advanced stages of exploration and verging on economic studies to determine if a mine is viable.

the steps in developing a mine consists of economic/conceptual studies based on a lot of assumptions. If it passes the big picture economics it goes to prefeasibility then feasibility then detailed design. Between feasibility and detailed design planning permission is submitted. Prior to detailed mine design baseline studies are conducted, including such things as, air, dust, vibration, traffic, water, weather, infrastructure, archaeology, social impact, etc the baseline studies are used to predict impacts of mining on the area. Mitigation measures are proposed before work starts. in addition to the planning application an detailed environmental impact assessment is conducted. During the planning application stakeholders and the public will have a chance to publically voice opposition or support for the project. its good practise to engage stakeholders well before any detailed design work is undertaken.

Why is there little information about weather a mine is to be developed? The companies to not want to get false hopes up that it will happen, zinc prices may crash and make mine development uneconomical. Pallas Green is a small project for these global miners so its unlikely to feature much on their websites.

Ireland is blessed with some of the largest zinc deposits in Europe. What is Irelands largest export by tonnes?.....zinc. Even I was surprised when I heard that. There are thousands of historic/disused mines in Ireland. Modern exploration and mining companies and governments have learnt from these and others and apply best available practise for protecting the environment and safety of workers.

I doubt the companies are buying up major landholdings, mine sites need to be substantially large than a couple of Jimmy Joes acres, they may have bought a couple of acres to park up drill rigs etc. Pre-planning application is the time to buy up surface land. And the state owns the minerals under the soil, so although the underground formation may extend over 100s of acres the surface mine site will be much less than that. Until the company have detailed designs for a mien they do not know exactly were the portal for the underground access will be, so they are not going to start buying up land without knowing the exact location they need. In order to avoid a land grab by speculators (just like the gold rush!) the companies will be keeps they cards to their chest during mine feasibility work.

fleabag

That's a great post, very interesting. Glad this thread has come to life again as I notice that the exploration seems to intensified around Caherconlish, a good few rigs now within a couple of miles of the village and quite close together. They've been there a good while too. Does this mean that they have identified a possible big deposit??

Tonka

fleabag wrote: »

Does this mean that they have identified a possible big deposit??

most likely they are conducting step out or infill drilling. Using the same drill pad for multiple holes means a rig stays at that site longer instead of upping sticks, trundling over 30m and setting up again. This practise reduces the ground disturbance and helps with logistics of servicing the rig.

Underpaid Mike

Any new updates on this lads ?

Johan_ie

Looks like the drilling rigs between caherconlish and herbertstown have packed up and moved on.

Poxyshamrock

Yup, my cousin was let go two weeks ago after three years on the job.

gctest50

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Yup, my cousin was let go two weeks ago after three years on the job.

did he get any feedback on the samples - that he'd hopefully be busy soon again ?

seaniefr

Anyone got any news on this?

Underpaid Mike

Nothing but further delays
Last thing I heard was there might be a decision in June but thats to be taken with a grain of salt

Reputable Rog

Underpaid Mike wrote: »

Nothing but further delays
Last thing I heard was there might be a decision in June but thats to be taken with a grain of salt

Or sand.

Paddico

So did Mining every get the go ahead in Caherconlish/Pallas

einn32

Paddico wrote: »

So did Mining every get the go ahead in Caherconlish/Pallas

Not that I know of. Mining globally has taken a hit especially Iron ore. I think most companies are cost cutting now.

Glencore had full control over it the last I heard. It would be a big boost for the area if it did happen.

Hunter456

seen two drill's pass me today on the caherline bog-line road and one has being set up on the left hand side, don't know where the second one went. so hopefully things are starting to pick up will be great for the job front in this area.

mastershake

Counted five rigs by the main road to Caherline. Extensive exploration drilling by the look of things. What is that they're looking for here, Zinc?

Hunter456

ya they looking to see first how much is in one area and then to the next area.

NotCarrotRidge

They are drilling great guns at the moment.  It's a little surprising, because Glencore (the owner) doesn't do exploration at all.  However, it is one of the best zinc exploration projects in the world, and zinc has been extremely buoyant over the last 18 months or so.  They may be trying to add on some good news flow with a view to selling, as there had been nothing over the last few years, so they want re-generate interest.  As long as they sell it to someone with the ability to develop it properly, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  I don't think Glencore has ever opened a mine, but I could be wrong.  At the same time, Xstrata (purchased by Glencore in 2013, which is how Glencore now has the licences), has opened mines in the past, and I presume they still have at least some of those people on staff.
Fingers crossed for some good news.

Car99

A long slow game this zinc lead exploration lark. They're in caherconlish on and off for over 10 years now. Looks like Canadian Outfit Group 11 and Glencore might be making a go of it eventually

https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/glencore-ventures-to-ireland-for-zinc/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.groupelevenresources.com/_resources/presentations/corporate-presentation.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiJ89nL8LH0AhXEQUEAHZrlDZAQFnoECAMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1ubhVAyT9G4ayZXL87KYPV