Mining in Southern Ireland

[dazb]

Coal, copper, gold, and so much more, rarely heard of perhaps..................anybody want to open it up?

[MPS]

In the mid to late 1990s I spent approx. three years based in Kilkenny first of all working on the start-up of the concentrator for the Galmoy Lead-Zinc Mine then moving on to do the same at the much larger Lead-Zinc Mine at Lisheen a few miles away. Both mines are relatively shallow but were accessed by drifts for enviromental reasons. Both have fairly significant mine water problems and require sizeable mine water treatment plants. Both mines were designed and built by what was then the sister companies of Davey McKee in Stockton and Cementation Mining in Doncaster.

While in Ireland I also got envolved in some private consultancy work for a small operation looking at the recovery of alluvial gold from gravel deposits. However, I'm not sure if this operation ever came to anything. Other hard rock gold mining projects are still on the drawing board stage for deposits in both Nothern and Southern Ireland. These are starting to get more international attention with the current rise in metal prices.

There is a third older Lead-Zinc mine operated in Ireland by Tara Mines but the deposits here are not so rich as those I was working at. Other similar mines were located at a place called "Silver Mines" but these have all now closed. In the longer term it is possille that at least one further Lead-Zinc mine may be sunk in Ireland near to St. Pactrick's Rock. However, again I've lost track of this project.


On weekends I often explored Ireland's rich mining heritage. There are plenty of sites to see from the famouse Bronze Age copper mines on Mt. Gabriel and Ross Ireland to the numerous metal mine remains of Co. Wicklow. There are a couple of very small collieries still going but these are only one man band type drift operations. The last major pit was at Castlecomer. This mine produced anthracite and employed a couple of hundred men befor closing in 1969.

While working in Kilkenny I got the impression that Ireland was just starting to appreciate it own industrial archeaology. Many groups were starting to form while I was their with the aims of preserving and promoting Irish mining heritage. Amoungst these were groups were those looking after the engine houses etc. of the old Berehaven copper mines plus the famous Cronebane area mines in Co. Wicklow.

[dazb]

Thanks for that Mark, you lucky fellah to have had the chance to live and work over there, it costs me an arm and a leg to keep tripping over on holiday. I read the area around Avoca was re-examined by a company called Strongbow a couple of years ago and that test borehole samples had shown both gold and zinc in quantities that could well be worth mining. Not heard anything more about it though, I wonder if the increased prices you mention might bring about yet another re-look at Avoca. I hope so, could just about manage a job over there in the lamproom or canteen.