Pallas Green Project, Ireland (23.6% owned)
Minco's 23.6% joint venture with Xstrata Zinc covers exploration licences, totaling 294 square kilometres located on the southern boundary of the Irish Midland orefield between Limerick and Tipperary. Drilling to date has resulted in the discovery of a significant cluster of zinc-lead massive sulphide lenses at Castlegarde, Shrane West, Caherconlish, Tobermalug and Knockroe. With the exception of Castlegarde, the zinc-lead bearing massive sulphide deposits in the vicinity of Caherconlish are considered to be part of a single cluster of deposits comparable to the mineralised clusters currently supporting the Lisheen and Galmoy mining operations, approximately 50 kilometres to the northeast.
Ireland is an established regional zinc producer supplying around half of Europe's mine production. The Pallas Green property has blossomed into a very exciting exploration project and, with 16 drilling rigs now operating, is believed to be the biggest exploration drilling programme ever undertaken in the 50-year modern history of the Irish mining industry.
The
Pallas Green block of prospecting licences contains a west northwest trending
alteration zone, the Pallas Green alteration trend, approximately 25 kilometres
in length and 2 kilometres in width. This is considered analogous to the
Lisheen alteration trend (approximately 20 kilometres in length and 2 kilometres
in width) which hosts the Lisheen and Galmoy Mines, which are located respectively
55 and 60 kilometres northeast of the Pallas Green area.
Including past production, the combined resource base of Lisheen and Galmoy amounts to 32 million tonnes averaging 12% zinc and 2% lead, grades which are comparable to those now being encountered at Pallas Green. Drilling over the past several years has focused on the Tobermalug prospect where a JORC compliant resource estimate of 11.3 million tonnes at 12% zinc+lead has been indicated. These results reinforce Minco's belief that an economic deposit could be discovered within the Pallas Green licence area.
Drilling to date has only partly explored some 30% of the total licence area and expectations of further discoveries remain high. Future work objectives are twofold; delineation of reportable resources through infill drilling at the main discovery sites; and identification of additional sulphide lenses through step out drilling.
At Caherconlish South, a lens of high grade massive sulphide has been outlined by 100 metre spaced drill holes, with an indicated width of between 200 and 250 metres. The high grade massive sulphide lens could remain open to the north and south. At Srahane West, which lies 3.7 kilometres northwest of Caherconlish South, a northwest-southeast trending lens, measuring approximately 350 metre by 150metre, of high grade mineralisation has been partially outlined by five holes.
Mineralisation at the Tobermalug prospect is located north of Caherconlish South at a depth of around 300 to 350 metres below surface at its shallowest to approximately 1,000 metres below surface to the southeast. Mineralisation remains open in all directions.
A potential new zone of mineralization has been identified at Knockroe, approximately 750 metres south of teh Caherconlish South deposit and 1.5 km west of Tobermalug.
During 2007, about 16,000 metres of drilling was completed with a total expenditure of €1.7 million. During 2008, 99 drill holes were completed, at one point using up to 15 drilling rigs, for a total of 42,567 metres, in what is believed to be the biggest exploration drilling programme ever undertaken in the fifty-year modern history of the Irish mining industry. Project expenditures for the JV in 2008 amounted to €4.5 million, with more than 85% on diamond drilling. Four diamond drills continued to operate through the first half of 2009 with approximately 8,000 metres completed in a further 14 holes.
Drilling in 2008 and into the first half of 2009 focused on Tobermalug, near Caherconlish, where a JORC compliant resource estimate, at at June 30, 2009, of 11.3 million tonnes at 12% zinc plus lead has now been outlined in what is believed to be a semi-continuous zone which remains open to the south and to the northwest. During 2008, 56 holes were completed at Tobermalug of which 49 tested the target and 26 intersected better than resource grade mineralisation. Ongoing drilling to date in 2009 has continued to yield very encouraging results, especially in the Northwest extension area where Hole MN636-121 returned grades of 24.2% zinc and 5.45% lead over 3.45 meters, the highest zinc/lead assay values ever encountered at the Pallas Green Project. Eight holes were drilled at Caherconlish in 2008 and nine at Srahane West where deposits of 1.3 million tonnes and 1.1 million tonnes, respectively, both grading over 10% combined zinc plus lead, have now been outlined.
In 2009, a preliminary Scoping Study was undertaken to provide a number of reports including: a resource estimate prepared to JORC standards, a preliminary mining plan, a preliminary metallurgical report, preliminary cost estimates as well as preliminary environmental base line studies. The Pallas Green project is undoubtedly the premier zinc exploration project in Ireland. The prospective area is approximately 25 km long and 4 - 5 km wide and 60% of the property remains relatively unexplored. Four distinct lenses of massive sulphide zinc lead mineralization have now been discovered and Pallas Green is emerging as the largest mineralized zone ever discovered in Ireland.
In 2010, Minco and Xstrata Zinc have commited to a US$10 million exploration programme comprising of approximately 70,000 metres of drilling using 16 drill rigs. To the end of 2009 over US$13 million has been invested on Pallas Green by Minco and its joint venture partners and almost 400 holes have been drilled.