The Newcastle West block comprises ten contiguous prospecting licences and is located approximately 20km southeast of the Stonepark prospect on the Monaster Block. The area is relatively underexplored when compared to the Pallas Green-Monaster area but is considered to be prospective for base metal mineralisation.
The geology of the block is dominated by two roughly east-west trending, large anticlinal folds that are flanked by prospective Waulsortian Limestone. A number of large east-west to northeast trending normal faults have also been mapped on the licence. This is significant as Irish-Type base metal deposits are structurally controlled and occur in the hanging wall rocks of normal faults.
The sub-cropping Waulsortian Limestone in the southern portion of the Newcastle West block is on-trend from known mineralisation at the Killmallock prospect currently being explored by Boliden. Historic intercepts from Killmallock include;
Connemara Mining carried out a programme of geological mapping, geophysical and geochemical surveys on the Newcastle West block following up on a number of historical soil anomalies. Further exploration work is currently being carried out by Teck Cominco with the aim of developing drill targets for testing in 2009. Teck are operators on the block.