Lisheen mine, Moyne, Tipperary County, Munster, Irelandi

Regional Level Types
Lisheen mine	Mine (Active)
Moyne	- not defined -
Tipperary County	County
Munster	Province
Ireland	Country

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Stratabound, carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb deposit.

The orebody was found in 1990 using soil geochemistry, and mining commenced in 1997. Delays caused by higher than expected water ingress meant that the first ore was not produced until September 1999. The deposit was initially worked by an Anglo American-Ivernia West joint venture, until Anglo bought out Ivernia's share in 2003. They then sold out to Vedanta in 2010. The mine produced 5,000 tonnes of ore every working day, and closed at the end of 2015 following exhaustion of the economic reserves, having produced 22.3 million tonnes grading 11.7 % Zn and 2.0 % Pb. A further 4.4 million tonnes, grading 14.5 % Zn and 2.6 % Pb remains in the ground, for various reasons (sub-economic, inaccessible or unsuitable for mining for geotechnical reasons). The main ores consisted of galena, sphalerite and pyrite found as compact fine-grained material.

Lisheen orebodies are usually stratiform, varying in thickness from 1 m to 30 m and "room and pillar" mining was the predominant method used for extraction, though "drift and fill" and "long hole stoping" were also employed according to conditions. The Main Zone, which had distinct northern and southern halves, lay at the west end of the mineralized area. A few hundred meters east of this was the substantial Derryville Zone and two smaller ones further east again (Bog Zone West & Bog Zone East). The discovery, in 2005, of a satellite orebody (Island Pod) over half a kilometer to the NNW of the northern tip of Derryville Zone, added another two years to the mine's life. The orebodies were divided up into north, south, east zones etc., these in turn were divided into panels.

Thousands of tonnes of massive nickel arsenide ore (gersdorffite and nickeline) were found in the Killoran fault zone, in the southern part of the Main Zone. For a while a stockpile of this lay underground, soon becoming coated with soft green annabergite. Fragments of limestone mixed in with this acquired encrustations of pharmacolite, all post-mining and forming within a matter of months. Unfortunately, the high arsenic content of this ore deterred smelting companies, and no buyer could be found. Thousands of tonnes of rich copper ore (chalcocite, bornite, tennantite) also occurring along fault zones likewise failed to find a buyer owing to an inability to guarantee a consistent grade, despite its high (sometimes ca. 1 %) silver content.

The orebodies were compact and vugs, even of calcite, scarce. However, a few dozen small specimens of bright yellow sphalerite crystals were recovered from one small area (Panel 18) in the Main Zone (North). Most Lisheen sphalerite was dark treacle brown, and good crystallised specimens are very rare.

The Lisheen deposit is situated in the southern Irish Zn-Pb orefield, was the second largest mined Zn-Pb deposit in Ireland, with the resource (23 Mt @ 13.3 % Zn and 2.3 % Pb) mined from 1999 until 2015. At Lisheen, mineralisation is predominantly hosted by the Waulsortian Limestone Formation, which has been the focus of most published research. However, while minor, significant resources are located in the LOM of the underlying Ballysteen Formation, with notable Cu-Ni associations. The deposit contained six stratabound orebodies: Main Zone, Derryville, Bog East, Bog Central, Bog West and the Island Pod. Additional subeconomic mineralisation has been discovered at Barnalisheen to the northwest, and at Templetouhy and Bawnmore further east.

Commodity List

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Mineral List

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35 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

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