The south midlands is fast becoming Ireland's newest mining region with the news last week that Irish Marine Oil had started a drilling programme on what is known as the "Shinrone" licence block.
And there could well be an early Christmas for the people of the area if more lead and zinc are discovered in the area around Shinrone in Offaly.
Irish Marine Oil will drill five exploratory holes before Christmas on an area identified by a programme of tests, which defined a number of anomalies in the structure of the ground.
These tests were carried out with IMO's joint venture partner, the Canadian mining group Noranda, and the partners are also looking for gold deposits.
Local people are hoping that the drilling, which began on October 2nd, may extend the ore fields eastwards into the region and create employment in rural areas, where farming is the mainstay of the communities.
The "Shinrone" block consists of nine contiguous prospecting areas covering about 380 km, from mid-Offaly and parts of Laois and Kilkenny.
Mr John Teeling, chairman of Irish Marine Oil, is in no doubt that there are further mines to be discovered in the area and said Ireland is a world-class zinc province.
More than £2 million will be spent on the exploratory work over the next four years on drilling for zinc on 10 licences in the Shinrone area.
Recently, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, launched the construction stage of the Lisheen mine, which is on the same geological fault as Silvermines, Co Tipperary, and Navan, Co Meath.
The Lisheen mine, he said, would provide long-term employment for 300 people when mining starts in the middle of next year and there will be 700 people employed in construction.
He said the output of Lisheen, combined with the recently-opened Galmoy mine on the Laois-Kilkenny border, and with the output of Tara Mines in Navan, would place Ireland among the world's largest producers of zinc and lead.
The Lisheen mine is expected to generate £40 million worth of business in the area through the purchase of goods for the development, in addition to the wages which will be paid.
The Minister also promised that the highest possible environmental standards would apply to the mining operations in the area and his Department would monitor the operations on a continuous basis.