Mine River Block

The Mine River licence block consists of a group of four contiguous prospecting licences covering an area of approximately 130km2 in counties Wicklow and Wexford.

The historic Caim Mine, situated on the licence PL 2556 is an epithermal base metal deposit hosted by the Ribband group. The Mine was worked from 1818 to 1836. Although no quantitative estimative of the size of the deposit has been reported, the workings seem to have been extensive with a large open pit and a number of shafts created.

The underlying geology of the licence block area consists primarily of Ribband Group metasediments; a distal turbiditic succession of slates, siltstones and sandstones. Local occurrences of intermediate to basic volcanic rocks are also noted. On the southeastern edge of the licence block, rocks of the Duncannon Group have been mapped. The Duncannon Group consists of acid, intermediate and basic volcanic rocks, with a minor sedimentary component.

The Mine River Licence Block is a prospective area for both base metal and gold mineralisation. Abundant mineralised float samples with gold results up to 52.18g/t have been found on the licence block, particularly around the Tombreen and Knocknalour area.

A southwest trend of mineralised outcrops at Mine Bridge, Kilrush and on the western edge of PL 2555 (gold 1.65g/t, 4.63g/t and 0.915g/t respectively) has been identified from compilation of historic data from a number of different companies. A southwest trend of deep over burden gold anomalies is also evident from work in Tombreen, along with an accompanying west-northwest trend. This west-northwest trend is also broadly defined by the occurrence of zones mineralised float at Tombreen and Mine Bridge and has been termed the Mine Bridge Trend.

An intensive trenching programme followed by drilling is planned for 2008.

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