The first mining of gold in Ireland in two centuries will be carried out by Omagh Minerals next year, its parent company, European Gold Resources, has announced. Omagh Minerals will mine the Kearney deposit at Cavanacaw, a townland four miles west of Omagh in Co Tyrone, after it was evaluated as having an 11-tonne gold reserve in 1.55 million tonnes of ore. European Gold claims to have an established gold reserve of 450,000 ounces worth, at current prices of $292 an ounce, over $130 million.
European Gold has made agreements with three jewellery manufacturers. Its design start-up plan envisages 17,000 ounces of gold per year being mined. It is working on a business plan to market the gold as of Irish origin.
"Our company will be an integrated jewellery manufacturer. Even on a global scale, that is quite unusual," Mr Gary Phelan, the manager of Omagh Minerals, said. Gold was last commercially mined in Ireland during the Avoca mini-gold rush in Co Wicklow at the turn of the 19th century. "Certainly we have found that the premium that could be attached to the one and only producer of gold from Ireland would be quite substantial."
He said he expected the infrastructure for the open cast mine to be in place next spring. "We will have 15 to 20 people to start with and thereafter it will increase to 30 to 40 people in a short space of time on the mine itself." Omagh Minerals has a licence to mine a 189-square kilometre area in Co Tyrone. "That is only one of a plethora of known gold-bearing veins in the area," Mr Phelan added.
