30 June 2023 | Minco Exploration plc (“Minco Exploration”, “Minco” or the “Company”) announces the publication of its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022.
Click here to download Minco’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022. (PDF)
Chairman John F. Kearney, Letter to Shareholders
2022 was a year of volatility for the commodity industry worldwide. The first half of the year saw historically high metal prices. But then widespread global instability, driven in part by the war in Ukraine, the European energy crisis, cost of living inflation, and interest rate increases, resulted in anxiety and economic uncertainty in the second half of the year, which has continued into the first half of 2023.
Minco’s purpose is to discover and develop a world-class mineral deposit and its corporate strategy is focused on exploring for zinc in Ireland both on its own behalf and in joint venture with Boliden Tara Mines.
The highlight of 2022 was the successful completion of a 730 meter drill hole on the Slieve Dart project in County Galway, where Minco has now earned a 50% interest with Boliden Tara. Minco also applied for a new prospecting license in County Clare, along strike of the old Kilbricken mine, which following extensive regulatory review was approved in February 2023. For details of these activities, please refer to the Review of Operations section of this Annual Report.
Recognition of the important role of minerals in the worldwide shift to clean energy has given a major boost to the mining industry as an essential player in the drive to meet net zero emission targets. There were also positive developments in public policy towards mineral exploration and mining, with the recognition by the EU of the importance of critical minerals and the subsequent publication of the EU Critical Materials Act in March 2023 and the publication by the Irish Government of its Policy Statement on Mineral Exploration and Mining in Ireland in December 2022. The UN’s ‘Mapping Mining to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas’ notes that a well-managed and regulated mineral exploration and mining sector has the opportunity and potential to positively contribute to all 17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In essence, a well-regulated mining sector can effectively mitigate the adverse environmental and health impacts to realise the potential social and economic benefits established in the Sustainable Development Goals.
EU Critical Raw Materials Act
In March 2023 the European Union introduced the Critical Raw Materials Act to ensure the EU’s access to a secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. The Act recognizes that Critical Raw Materials are indispensable for the EU economy and for a wide range of necessary technologies for strategic sectors such as renewable energy, digital, space and defence.
“With this Act, the EU is upping its game in terms of extracting, refining, recycling and diversifying to ensure secure and sustainable access to critical raw materials.” Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, 15 March 2023.
While demand for critical raw materials is projected to increase drastically, Europe heavily relies on imports, often from quasi-monopolistic third country suppliers. The EU needs to mitigate the risks for supply chains related to such strategic dependencies to enhance its economic resilience, as highlighted by shortages in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This can put at risk the EU’s efforts to meet its climate and digital objectives.
“This Act will bring us closer to our climate ambitions. It will significantly improve the refining, processing and recycling of critical raw materials here in Europe. Raw materials are vital for manufacturing key technologies for our twin transition – like wind power generation, hydrogen storage or batteries.”
The Act specifies the actions necessary to ensure EU access to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials, enabling Europe to meet its 2030 climate and digital objectives. The Act will reduce the administrative burden and simplify permitting procedures for critical raw materials projects in the EU. In addition, selected Strategic Projects will benefit from support for access to finance and shorter permitting timeframes (24 months for extraction permits and 12 months for processing and recycling permits). Member States, including Ireland, will also have to develop national programmes for exploring their own geological resources.
The Act defines benchmarks along the strategic raw materials value chain for the diversification of EU supplies. These include at least 10% of the EU’s annual consumption for extraction, and minimum benchmarks for processing and recycling with limits on importation from a single third country.
Minco, which is a registered member of the European Raw Materials Alliance, supports this initiative but we suggest that the list of Critical Materials should be expanded to include the base metals, for example zinc and copper, which are included as critical minerals by both United States and Canada, and that the minimum percentage production from European resources at 10% of the EU’s annual consumption is not sufficiently ambitious and can and should be higher.
“Currently Ireland supplies a significant amount of zinc, recently included on the critical raw material list in the USA. Zinc is key in the production of galvanised steel, required particularly for wind turbines. Continuing and expanding production of zinc in Ireland has the potential to make the country’s mineral sector of strategic importance in realisation of climate action targets in Europe.” Green Metals: Demand Arising from Decarbonisation of Energy and Transport Sectors – Geological Survey Ireland, March 2023.
“As more and more electric cars are travelling on the roads of Europe, this is leading to an increase in the use of the critical metals required for components such as electric motors and electronics. With the current raw material production levels there will not be enough of these metals in future – not even if recycling increases.” Raw Materials in Vehicles, Survey by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, on behalf of the European Commission, 2022.
Policy Statement on Mineral Exploration and Mining in Ireland
In December 2022, the Irish Government published its Policy Statement on Mineral Exploration and Mining – ‘Critical Raw Materials for the Circular Economy Transition’. The Policy Statement sets out a framework for future decision making on mineral exploration and mining within the State. It will serve as a frame of reference for policy makers, regulators and stakeholders. It also puts in place a clear and sustainable policy framework that supports communities, the environment, the climate and the mineral exploration and mining sectors.
In his foreword, Minister Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications wrote,
“Mining is economically important to producing regions, particularly in rural areas as it provides direct and indirect employment as well as exchequer funds. Mineral exploration and mining involve high levels of financial risk. To attract international investment to these sectors, Ireland needs to provide investors with confidence through a stable regulatory environment and a competitive fiscal framework.”
“This policy adopts the government’s sustainable development principles, supplementing the high level of environmental protection enforced on modern and future prospecting and mining in Ireland. It also seeks to put in place a clear and sustainable policy framework that supports our communities, our environment, our climate and our mineral exploration and mining sectors.”
Minerals are, and will continue to be, essential to our daily lives and to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across several sectors, including renewable power generation, energy transmission and storage (batteries) and transportation.
The policy for mineral exploration and mining is to: (1) ensure a stable, robust and transparent regulatory framework that supports environmentally sustainable mineral exploration and mining, and; (2) maximise the contribution that sustainable exploration and mining can make to our society, economic development and the transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through the supply of the raw materials necessary for our sustainable development.
Looking to the Future
We look forward to making further progress in 2023 as Minco looks to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the future. We remain optimistic about the long-term fundamentals of zinc and other “critical” minerals. Zinc is essential to the ongoing transition to build electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure, helping society move towards a low carbon future.
As always, Minco remains focused on operating ethically in an environmentally responsible manner and creating sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders, consistent with the Government’s Policy Statement on Mineral Exploration and Mining. Minco’s sustainability strategy is supported by its environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments which seek to enhance responsible exploration practices at all its projects. More details may be found in the Statement of Corporate Governance.
In closing, I express my gratitude to all of our stakeholders and particularly to our shareholders for their ongoing support. This support is fundamental to our future success. Minco will remain focused on continuing to explore for minerals in Ireland and generating long-term value for shareholders.
John F. Kearney
Chairman of the Board
30 June 2023
Review of Operations
Minco Exploration PLC (“Minco Exploration”, “Minco”, or the “Company”) continues to focus its exploration efforts on its Prospecting Licences (“PLs”) in Ireland. These are held either directly or in joint venture with Boliden Tara Mines Limited (“Boliden”). Minco’s application for a Prospecting Licence covering the Milltown mineral prospect and adjacent ground in County Clare was successful and the Licence was issued in February 2023.
The licences held by Minco are considered prospective exploration areas for “Irish Type” carbonate hosted zinc-lead mineralization and quality target areas have been identified through field work, reinterpretation of historical exploration data and application of geological concepts.
Joint Venture with Boliden on PL 1440R (Tatestown), County Meath
Minco, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Westland Exploration Limited, continues to maintain a 20% interest in PL 1440R (Tatestown). This licence is being explored under a joint venture with Boliden (80%). PL 1440R is located within the mineralized envelope that surrounds Boliden’s immediately adjacent Tara Mine orebody and hosts part of the Tatestown–Scallanstown zinc-lead deposit. A historical resource of 2.4 million tonnes averaging 7.31% zinc plus lead has been estimated for the Tatestown–Scallanstown deposit.
At the end of 2021, the Tara Mine suffered a large inflow of water in the exploration drift being developed to access the mineralization in Tara Deep. This affected Tara’s production in early 2022 and prevented underground drilling to Tara Deep throughout 2022. Due to problems obtaining permits, it was impossible to start work on any new drilling sites above ground in 2022. However, extensive exploration was undertaken elsewhere around the existing mine in 2022.
In 2022, Boliden’s Tara Mine produced 2.09 million tonnes of zinc-lead ore and is the largest zinc mine in Europe and is also one of the largest globally. Exploration by Boliden has continued to extend the life-of-mine through the delineation of new resources proximal to the existing workings and at the Tara Deep zone to the south-east.
In June 2023, the Tara Mine was placed on temporary care and maintenance due to a combination of factors including operational challengers, a decline in the price of zinc, high energy prices, and general cost inflation. In a statement, Boliden said they believed this to be the best course of action to safeguard the long-term future of the mine.
The drill testing of the Donaghpatrick target within PL 1440R, which was reported in 2021 successfully confirmed the structural and stratigraphic setting, but without any significant mineralisation. The results of this drilling were incorporated into the database and highlighted that several other, untested, structural – stratigraphic settings similar to those at Tatestown-Scallanstown are present within PL 1440R.
Attention is now being directed to the northern portion of the licences where four, widely spaced, intercepts of pervasive low-grade zinc–lead mineralization were intersected in historic drilling. Interpretation of these results suggests the presence of an east-west fault, similar to that at Tatestown-Scallanstown. The hope is that higher grades and widths of mineralization are developed proximal to the fault. Systematic testing of those targets will continue. Given the proximity to the Tara Mine operations and infrastructure, the threshold for discovery of an economic deposit is significantly less than in a greenfield setting.
Joint Venture with Boliden on PL 3373 (Kells), County Meath
Minco, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Minco Ireland Limited, has now earned a 50% interest in PL 3373 which is held in a joint venture with Boliden. The licence, contiguous to the west of PL 1440R, is located approximately 10 km northwest of the Tara Mine and is bounded to the south by ground currently being explored by Boliden.
Under terms of this agreement, Minco can earn a 75% interest through expenditure of €250,000 in staged programmes, by 1 March 2024. At 31 December 2022 Minco had incurred cumulative expenditure of €189,538. Boliden has the right of off-take to purchase or toll process all ore that may be produced from the licence area.
Drill testing in 2021 at the Kilmainham target established that the same rocks as those that host the ore at the Tara Mine extend into this area at depth. The historic exploration is being reviewed with the objective of drill testing three additional similar targets that have been identified on the licence.
Minco-Boliden Navan Block (Tatestown and Kells) Showing Target Areas (Red), Tara Deposit outline (Blue) and Tara Deep location (Blue)
Joint Venture with Boliden on Slieve Dart Licences, County Galway
Minco, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Minco Ireland Limited, is participating in a joint venture agreement with Boliden on ten prospecting licences in the Slieve Dart area of County Galway. Minco Ireland had the right to earn a 50% interest through expenditure of €385,000 in staged programmes, by 31 December 2022.
During 2022, Minco incurred expenditures of €152,000 with respect to these licences. As of 31 December 2022, Minco incurred cumulative expenditures of €435,019 (2021 – €283,019) with respect to the licences and earned an undivided 50% joint venture interest in the licences. Boliden holds title to a further five licences contiguous to the original 10 licences. Minco has contributed 50% of the exploration costs on these licences with the intention to apply for Ministerial approval to incorporate them into the joint venture. Boliden has the right of off-take to purchase or toll process on all ore that may be produced from the licence areas.
Historic exploration has detected widespread, significant, mineralization in Waulsortian Reef limestones at shallow depth in the northern and north-western part of the block. These limestones, which host many of the Irish ore deposits, are covered to the south-east by younger rocks. A 2D seismic survey was completed over this area in 2019. This was jointly funded by Minco and Boliden, with financial support from the Geological Survey of Ireland (“GSI”). The survey results, in conjunction with review of the GSI TELLUS regional airborne data, indicated the presence of major structures in the basement rocks beneath the younger cover. It is interpreted that these structures might provide the plumbing system for mineralizing fluids ascending from the basement into the prospective limestones.
During 2022, a systematic review was completed of all the historic exploration data in the light of the revised structural – stratigraphic interpretation generated by the seismic survey. Following from this review, drill hole DDH 2885-01, was drilled to a depth of 731.5 m near the southern end of the seismic line. The hole was designed to test a structural – stratigraphic target and to validate the interpretation of the seismic data. The drill test confirmed the presence of Waulsortian Reef limestone at a depth of 293.7 – 385 m. This is somewhat shallower than expected and is likely due to the presence of a significant fault zone at 115 – 150 m. This fault is interpreted as the western extension of the Mount Mary Fault which controls the northern boundary of the Inlier to the east.
DDH 2885-01 successfully confirmed the structural – stratigraphic target, following which, a detailed review of the historic soil geochemical data set was completed. This review highlighted a variable, but clear, trend of ore, and alteration, element concentrations, extending to the east and west of DDH 2885-01, a trend that also aligns with a regional geophysical contrast.
The combination of all these observations and patterns suggests that a credible target area is located between the seismic line and the Mount Mary Inlier. The area extends over some 15 km of strike that is not drilled tested to the base of the Waulsortian Reef. It is intended to conduct more detailed geochemical and geophysical studies along this trend with the objective of determining specific target sites warranting drill testing.
Several other structural – stratigraphic targets remain untested further to the north along the seismic line. Each has relative pros and cons and drilling would add considerably to our knowledge. As drill testing all targets would be prohibitively expensive, prioritisation by other methods will be the focus for the 2023 programs.
Plan of the Slieve Dart Block showing seismic line and approximate locations of drill holes
Exploration at Moate, County Westmeath
Minco holds a 100% interest in two licences, PLs 1228 and 1229, that cover a surface area of 65.67km2, at Moate in County Westmeath. These PLs are centred on a specific geological target identified by Minco, with potential for zinc-lead mineralization of Tynagh Mine type.
Minco’s Moate licences are located along the “Tynagh-Ballinalack Trend” approximately mid-way between the former Tynagh Mine, located 50 km to the southwest, and the similar styled Ballinalack deposit, situated 35 km to the northeast. The Tynagh Mine operated successfully from 1965 to 1981 producing 9 million tonnes of ore, from open pit and underground, at average grades of approximately 7.0% lead, 5.5% zinc, 0.5% copper and 2.6 ounces of silver per tonne.
The licences were renewed for a further 6-year term in November 2021 subject to expending the required biannual exploration costs of €60,000 and catching up on an underspend of €351,000, which was carried over from previous years due to COVID restrictions.
New Licence at Milltown (PL 3788), County Clare
Minco’s exploration efforts in 2022 led to the Company’s latest application for a Prospecting Licence covering the Milltown mineral prospect and the adjacent ground in County Clare, which was issued to Minco in February of 2023 for a six-year term. Minco holds a 100% interest in the Milltown prospecting licence through its wholly-owned subsidiary Minco Ireland Limited.
Mining of calcite was conducted at the Milltown site in the 19th century, via an open-pit reputed to be in the order of 35m (120 ft) deep. Base-metal mineralization was discovered in mid-1990’s at a depth of about 70m beneath the coarsely crystalline calcite. It varies in thickness from 1 to 23m and is approximately 150m by 150m in horizontal extent and is both stratabound and stratiform with a best intercept of 20.4 m @ 7.81% Zn, 4.22% Pb at a depth of 38.3 m in drill hole 3788/19.
Given that mineral prospects rarely occur in isolation, Minco plans to compile all of the historic exploration data to identify targets and areas that may warrant further investigation.
ABOUT MINCO EXPLORATION PLC
Minco Exploration PLC is focused on mineral exploration in Ireland, internationally renowned as a major zinc-lead mining country. Minco has interests in Prospecting Licences (PLs) strategically located in the foremost geologically prospective areas of Ireland. Minco Exploration has a uniquely experienced leadership team, which has extensive knowledge of the Irish mineral landscape.
Minco’s licences are held in areas considered prospective exploration areas for “Irish Type” carbonate hosted zinc-lead mineralization. These licences are operated by Minco or in joint venture with Boliden Tara Mines. Minco is participating (20%) in a joint venture with Boliden (80%) on Licence 1440R (Tatestown), which lies immediately adjacent to Boliden’s large 130 million tonnes Tara zinc-lead mine at Navan. Minco is also participating in a joint venture with Boliden on PL 3373 (Kells), contiguous to the west of PL 1440R, where Minco can earn up to a 75% interest; and in a joint venture with Boliden on ten PLs in County Galway (Slieve Dart) where Minco can earn up to a 50% interest. Minco also holds a 100% interest in two Licences at Moate, County Westmeath and another Licence covering the Milltown mineral prospect in County Clare.
Additional information about the Company is available at www.MincoExploration.com.
Enquiries:
Minco Exploration PLC
John Kearney, Chairman +1 (416) 362 6686
Peter McParland, Chief Executive +353 (0) 4690 73709
Click here to download Minco’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022. (PDF)
This news release may include certain “forward-looking statements”. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, resources and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of Minco Exploration, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Minco Exploration’s expectations are exploration risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Minco Exploration with securities regulators.
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