Overview
Status | Closing / Closed |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Drift & Fill
- Open stoping
- Room-and-pillar
|
Mining activity at the Lisheen Mine in Ireland was concluded in November 2015, with milling stopping in December 2015 after 17 years of operation.
The cessation of mining at Lisheen was not the end of the story as far as VZI is concerned. The closure program is believed to be among the world’s finest examples of environmentally sensitive mine closure and rehabilitation.
Following completion of the active closure phase from April 2014- February 2018, Lisheen entered the passive mine closure phase due to conclude in December 2019. This will be followed by planned aftercare to commence phase from January 2020- December 2050. |
Source:
p. 78
Contractors
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Summary:
The Lisheen Zn-Pb-Ag deposit, located in County Tipperary in southeast-central Ireland, consists of a group of strata-bound pyritic sulfide lenses containing 22 Mt of ore with an overall grade of 11.5 percent Zn, 1.9 percent Pb, 26 g/t Ag, and 16 percent Fe hosted in Lower Carboniferous (Early Mississippian) carbonate rocks. Sulfide bodies at Lisheen are restricted to the Waulsortian mudbank complex and the Lisduff oolite unit of the Ballysteen limestone, which compose the stratigraphically lowest, nonargillaceous carbonate horizons in the local Lower Carboniferous succession. The deposit is located within a major right-stepping relay zone of a segmented normal fault system. Sulfide bodies occur adjacent to the normal faults; thickest development of sulfides generally occurs at points of maximum throw Metal zoning is well developed relative to these structures. The Waulsortian mudbank complex and portions of the overlying succession were subjected to air early, pre-mineralization, regional-scale dolomitizing event that increased permeability. The regional dolostone produced by this event is cut and replaced by hydrothermal dolomite, referred to as black matrix breccia and white matrix breccia, associated with mineralization. Hydrothermal dolomitization was most intense in the Waulsortian mudbank complex, though it locally affected rocks from the Silurian basement to more than 200 in above the level of major sulfide precipitation. The majority of the Lisheen deposit consists o ........

Mining Methods
- Drift & Fill
- Open stoping
- Room-and-pillar
Summary:
The underground mine is accessed via a 1.5 km long tunnel, which slopes gradually downwards, from the surface to a depth of 200 metres below surface. The tunnel is over 6 metres wide and 5 metres high. The underground facilities include water pump stations, mobile equipment workshops and warehouses as well as the main crusher station. The ore is extracted using three mining methods; room and pillar, drift and fill and open stoping.
Source:
Summary:

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Production:
Commodity | Product | Units | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Zinc
|
Metal in concentrate
|
t
| 71,825 | 130,897 | 151,021 |
Zinc
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| 136 | 244 | 282 |
Lead
|
Metal in concentrate
|
t
| ......  | ......  | ......  |
Lead
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| ......  | ......  | ......  |
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Ore tonnes mined
| 752,749 t | 1,362,776 t | 1,287,932 t |
Reserves at December 31, 2015:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Proven & Probable
|
0.7 Mt
|
Zinc
|
9.46 %
|
Proven & Probable
|
0.7 Mt
|
Lead
|
1.29 %
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1.3 Mt
|
Zinc
|
14.12 %
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1.3 Mt
|
Lead
|
2.52 %
|
Inferred
|
0.1 Mt
|
Zinc
|
12.92 %
|
Inferred
|
0.1 Mt
|
Lead
|
2.39 %
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | 2016 |
Cash costs
|
Zinc
|
USD
|
0.57 / lb
|
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