The Luck of the Irish: A Million Ounces of Gold found under Small Village of Clontibret

In a formal statement to the London Stock Exchange, Conroy Diamonds and Gold, a mining company based in Dublin, Ireland, announced it has discovered about a million ounces of gold under the tiny village of Clontibret. It's reputed to be the largest gold find in British history.

The chairman of the company said, "There's never been a gold mine anywhere near this size in Ireland and the UK.

"The Company's exploration programme in Ireland is focussed on the Longford-Down Massif. The Company at an early stage recognized the significant gold potential of the Massif. It is engaged in active exploration there which has already led to the discovery of a series of gold targets along a 30 mile (50km) strike length stretching from County Armagh across to Counties Monaghan and Cavan.

"At the most advanced of these targets, Clontibret in County Monaghan, a mineral resource of over 1 million ounces of gold (Indicated 440,000 ounces, Inferred 590,000 ounces) has been estimated for an area representing less than 20 per cent of the target. Drilling has commenced in the remaining 80 per cent of the Clontibret target anomaly, which is expected to further increase this resource. This is the largest gold resource reported to date in Ireland or the UK."

Estimates of the value of the gold deposits were set at £450 million based on today’s gold price.

In other British gold news, the Cononish mine near Tyndrum, in Stirlingshire is scheduled to reopened after being shut down for ten years because of low gold prices. Now that the price of gold is sure to hold for some time, investors are reopening the mine, which has "an estimated £76m worth of gold and silver embedded in the quartz rock."