GEOGRAPHICAL FOCUS: UK
discovery of a new high grade vein on our freehold land and the remarkable gold accumulation demonstrated by the recent core on Joshua, is the result of years of hard work by the Galantas geological team, building an ever more detailed picture of the Omagh gold deposits.” T e company recently drilled its largest high-grade accumulation, resulting in a fi nd of gold grade of 9.9 G/T, 30.3 G/T silver and 0.6% lead, at an estimated vertical depth of 117.2m. Further drilling is planned, with three rigs currently on-site. T e company also has licence areas
that are showing potential in the Republic of Ireland, some 33km south of Omagh. Phelps continues, “We knew from
our research and local knowledge that this package of licences was highly
A LEARNING LEGACY A
t one time the tin mining business in the South West of
England was huge. It is thought that the material from Cornwall was traded around Europe for some 4,000 years, and from 1700 to 1914 there was intense mining activity. Also extracted were copper, arsenic, lead, zinc and silver.
prospective for gold. To have identifi ed gold and silver in outcrop so early in the programme is exciting and I am delighted. To have interesting nickel and chromium results, in the same licence package, adds to our enthusiasm and demonstrates why we continue to explore the ROI licence area.” ●
The end product – the UK currently produces around 0.9 million tonnes of potash per annum
As metal prices declined toward the end of the 19th century, mining in the South West became increasingly unprofi table. This caused large numbers of miners to take their specialist skills abroad, with Cornwall alone estimated to have lost up to half a million people from around 1815 to 1915.
So important is the area to UK
history, in 2006 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With that wealth of history on its doorstep, it seems appropriate then that the local University of Exeter should house a specialist department, the Camborne School of Mines Research. The facility manages its own
test mine nearby, where students get trained how to drill, use explosives and conduct surveys. Various research themes
are actively being undertaken, including energy and resource effi ciency, health and safety and environmental responsibility. There are around 25 people doing post-grad research, and over 30 technical papers were published in 2015. ●
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