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A mining company thinks there could be lots of gold in Inishowen

Five new prospecting licences have been granted for a swathe of land on the peninsula.

GOLD AND ZINC exploration firm Connemara Mining has been granted five new prospecting licences over thousands of acres on the Inishowen peninsula in Co Donegal.

In a statement to the London stock exchange, the Dublin-based Connemara said its geologists considered the 187 sq km area a prospect for “high-grade gold mineralisation” with the potential for other base metal deposits.

A previous mining licence holder for the region found gold in some rock samples, but no major outcrop of the precious metal.

However in 2013 the Tellus Border survey revealed signs of elevated gold in the region as well as several other sites in the border counties.

Tellus Tellus Border survey Tellus Border survey

The licence area contains the former Glentogher lead and silver mine, which was first worked in the late 18th century.

Rival prospector Conroy Gold has announced plans for Ireland’s first commercial gold mine at Clontibret in Co Monaghan, part of what it said was a 50km-long gold seam from Co Armagh to Co Cavan.

Digging to start soon

Connemara said its own prospecting programme would start “in the coming days” with results expected in July.

Chairman John Teeling, who sold the Cooley Distillery to a US company for $95 million in 2012, said the move “furthers the aggressive stance we are taking in discovering Ireland’s next gold deposit”.

Cooley Distillery Chairman Connemara Mining chairman John Teeling Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

The company has been granted another 29 prospecting licences for potential zinc and gold deposits across the country, including a separate block of 10 licences in the Stranorlar region of Donegal, but it is yet to develop a commercially-viable project.

In 2013 it recorded a loss of €348,000 after banking income of just €498, while in the first six months of last year it lost another €140,000.

First published 2.08pm

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READ: It was a bad year for spuds at the former Donegal Creameries >

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53 Comments
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    Mute Marg murphy
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    May 22nd 2016, 10:34 AM

    These projects are really good for kids. And teachers like that are worth their weight in gold.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    May 22nd 2016, 11:47 AM

    @Marg murphy,
    They’re not kids, they’re 18-22 year olds, and this looks like something you would see in the jungle.
    Talk about dumbing down.

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    Mute Donnacha Bhoicaire
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    May 22nd 2016, 12:22 PM

    @eamon go back to bed

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    May 22nd 2016, 12:46 PM

    @Donnacha Bhoicaire,
    You’re easily impressed, no wonder Ireland’s colleges have such low rankings.
    GMIT is far behind MIT.

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    Mute Marg murphy
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    May 22nd 2016, 1:26 PM

    @eamonn. I should have read beyond the first line the article where I read “schoolchild”. I thought it was a primary school project.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    May 22nd 2016, 1:40 PM

    @Marg murphy,
    Yes, if it was young children who built it, then it would be impressive.

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    Mute Shane Freeney
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    May 22nd 2016, 2:18 PM

    Eamon Mac I really feel sorry for you and your negative life. It’s very sad for you

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    Mute Zozzy Zozimus
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    May 22nd 2016, 5:53 PM

    You don’t really seem like someone people would like.

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    Mute Irish Names
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    May 22nd 2016, 10:09 AM

    Tis a little on the exposed side for a winter classroom.

    Good for cider parties in the summer though.

    Good thinking.

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    Mute The Viking
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    May 22nd 2016, 10:13 AM

    Robinson Crusoe would be proud of you.. !!

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    Mute Ossi Fritsche
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    May 22nd 2016, 10:55 AM

    You can’t be doom and gloom all the time, sometimes a bit of been positive can lift you up.

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    May 22nd 2016, 11:11 AM

    Agreed

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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    May 22nd 2016, 10:49 AM

    Housing problem solved, no morgage.

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    May 22nd 2016, 10:31 AM

    Well you can’t beat there optimism about the weather!

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    Mute Paul Mitchell
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    May 22nd 2016, 12:06 PM

    Fantastic to see how rapidly Mayo civilisation is advancing.

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    Mute Criostoir O Hairneis
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    May 22nd 2016, 3:07 PM

    This is simply awesome. Yes it’s not brick and mortar boring thinking that would leave a huge carbon footprint. It’s out of the box thinking that encourages more out of the box thinking. I remember looking out glass windows of lecture rooms on a nice sunny day wishing for something like this. The fact that brick and mortar buildings are assumed to be a “continuous improvement ” from such structures as this makes one think about construction methods and it’s success could probably be measured by the pride that all involved have when they look at it. Large scale team building exercise with a functional result that can be used by many. Not all will see but not all have creative ability and less have creative ability with follow through. Congratulations to you all.

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    Mute Gmitliving Classroom
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    May 22nd 2016, 4:08 PM

    Thank you for your comments Croistoir. The project is part of an ongoing Green Campus initiative under Local Agenda 21 funding. The students explored the principles of place based education whilst constructing the classroom. The module that students were taking which this project is part of was sustainable environmental management. If you require any further information please contact me via the Facebook page.

    Aodan

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    Mute Fergal McDonagh
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    May 22nd 2016, 3:03 PM

    There’s an awful lot of ar$eholery in this thread.
    See if you can spot who I’m on about.
    I’ll post the answer in a short while. :-)

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    Mute Coles
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    May 22nd 2016, 5:11 PM

    Eamon MacGowan?

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    May 22nd 2016, 5:20 PM

    Too easy

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    Mute Gerry Fallon
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    May 22nd 2016, 11:54 AM

    Well at least it’s air -conditioned!

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    Mute Chris Kirk
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    May 22nd 2016, 12:36 PM

    Great to be able to do this without planning permission, wheelchair access, fire restrictions etc……..

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    Mute Gmitliving Classroom
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    May 22nd 2016, 4:18 PM

    It’s part of an environmental sustainability management module, exploring the principles of placed based education. It for the entire community not just the college but for local national schools and youth organisations.

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    Mute Martin Sinnott
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    May 22nd 2016, 1:16 PM

    Amazing health & safety has not shut it down !

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    Mute Anonymous Man
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    May 22nd 2016, 12:29 PM

    They’ve been watching too much Bear Grylls.

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    Mute Gerry Fallon
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    May 22nd 2016, 11:52 AM

    I hope they wont be given the job of designing social housing.We might freeze to death!

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    Mute Tony Stanley
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    May 22nd 2016, 11:00 AM

    Yeah wow fair play, threw it together as a wee little project!

    When the sad fact remains that millions of children around the world do actually have their whole schooling in such lacking facilities due to poverty.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    May 22nd 2016, 1:16 PM

    This is so Irish, any old halfhearted effort will do.
    Shure it’s grand!

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    May 22nd 2016, 1:41 PM

    Relax eamon I’m sure it was meant as an exercise to get some youngsters out of a lecture hall and thinking outside the box, no one, well except Gerard, was suggesting this was the solution to all the worlds ills

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    Mute Ruairi Kelly
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    May 22nd 2016, 5:16 PM

    Get some help Eamon. You appear to have a major malfunction. Well don’t gmit

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    Mute Tomás Ó Briain
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    May 22nd 2016, 8:53 PM

    Racist comments, to me, are suggestive of a certain tardiness with regard to the evolutionary process.

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    Mute Pat Gorman
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    May 22nd 2016, 7:00 PM

    It doesn’t look a bit impressive to me.
    A bit naff.
    Students should be out protesting and throwing stones at the police.
    Not wasting their time building such ridiculous childish tree houses.

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    Mute Pat Gorman
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    May 22nd 2016, 7:13 PM

    P.S
    I built a better tree-house than that when I was 9 years old.

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    Mute Gerry Fallon
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    May 22nd 2016, 11:55 AM

    Erm, can I ask is it hurricane proof?

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    Mute Zozzy Zozimus
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    May 22nd 2016, 5:55 PM

    Are you thinking of teaching a class there during one of our frequent hurricanes?

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    Mute Marc Anthony
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    May 22nd 2016, 1:57 PM

    I could be cynical and point out how hedge schools came into my mind when I first saw this article. The country was under an administration that cared little for the common people at that point. Some things don’t change

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