Ireland has a rich history of zinc exploration and mining leading to the naming of its own “Irish-Type” of zinc deposit.

Irish-Type zinc deposits are highly sought after by major mine developers due to Ireland’s established mining industry, favourable fiscal regime, and high quality zinc concentrates.

IRELAND: WORLD’S MOST PROSPECTIVE ZINC EXPLORATION REGION

• Ireland is ranked first in the world for zinc discovered per km²
• 50 years of exploration has resulted in the discovery of >25 deposits containing +20Mt of zinc metal.
• Majors presently exploring and mining; Boliden, Glencore and Teck.

ZMI Licence Position on the Rathdowney Trend, Ireland.

IRELAND: A PLACE WHERE ZINC MINES ARE BUILT

• Established mining industry.
• Home to Boliden’s Tara mine; Europe’s largest zinc mine in operation since 1977.
• Lisheen and Galmoy zinc-lead mines now closed due to depleted reserves with proposal to reopen Galmoy in pricess.
• Grid power, roads, railways & ports.
• Modest cost profiles, skilled local workforce.
• Numerous smelters within Europe.
• 25% corporate tax rate on mining operations.
• Royalty: negotiated on a project basis, expected range 1.5% - 3.5% NSR.

Aerial view of Lisheen Mine whilst in production.

IRELAND: KILDARE PROJECT-HIGH GRADE ZINC-LEAD

Our flagship 100%-owned Kildare Project is located approximately 40km southwest of Dublin and is comprised of approximately 240km² of contiguous prospecting licences.

On September 8th 2020 ZMI announced at updated resource for Kildare of 11.3Mt @ 9.0% Zn + Pb Inferred.

Our focus on the Kildare Project is driven by its similarities to the high grade profitable Irish-Type zinc mines nearby, including:

• Thick, high grade zones of mineralization
  
  • 19.89m @ 17.64% Zn+Pb at McGregor
  • 15.65m @ 11.7% Zn+Pb at Shamrock
• Multiple deposits.  Presently, McGregor, Fault Compartment 3 (FC3) and Shamrock. 
• Flat-lying deposits amenable to efficient mining methods. 
• Excellent metallurgical performance – high recoveries, clean concentrates, low energy requirements.

Situated within the Rathdowney Trend, within 80km of the famous profitable zinc mines – Lisheen (Resource of ~22Mt @ 14.1% Zn+Pb; 17 year mine life) and Galmoy (Resource of 9.7Mt @ 16.2% Zn+Pb; 12 year mine life) - the Kildare Project is ideally positioned to become another high grade Irish-Type zinc mine.

Within the greater Kildare Project our immediate focus is on the Allenwood Graben which is approximately 8km².  This area presents a well-constrained, highly prospective, exploration search area which has significant and immediate upside. 

Until ZMI, no company has ever controlled the entire Kildare Project, which presents a unique opportunity to capitalise on extensive data and historical work undertaken over the greater project area.

The Kildare Project presents a range of other competitive advantages relative to other Irish explorers.  Coupled with an existing resource with considerable scope for growth, and immediate exploration programs targeting additional resources, the Kildare Project is poised to create and deliver significant value.

More details on the Kildare Project can be found in our latest Corporate Presentation

 MAPS/FIGURES:

Oblique View of the Kildare Resource Area.

Plan View.

Kildare Footprint compared to peer projects.

Long Section through the Kildare-Celtic Tiger Area. 

IRELAND: RATHDOWNEY PROJECT-BELT SCALE EXPLORATION POSITION

ZMI has now secured 130km (approximately 2,500km²) of the mineralised Rathdowney Trend. The Rathdowney Trend hosts the previously mined Lisheen (22.8Mt at 14.1% Zn+Pb) and Galmoy (9.7Mt at 16.2% Zn+Pb) deposits as well as the company’s Kildare deposit (11.3Mt @ 9.0% Zn + Pb) and a number of other prospects. The company is now in control of what is arguably one of the most prospective exploration land packages for high grade, large tonnage, Zn/Pb deposits in the world.

The primary target and host rock, Waulsortian Reef, which hosts thick high grade zinc & lead deposits within the Trend (Lisheen, Galmoy, McGregor, FC3 & Shamrock), occurs in abundance within the PL areas and from as shallow as just below surface/regolith.

ZMI are the first company to have consolidated a commanding position on the Trend with previous exploration having been restricted to fragmented tenure. This will offer ZMI advantages in terms of the application of the latest geological and deposit modelling techniques to the comprehensive Rathdowney Trend data package.

Advanced drill targeting is underway with drilling expected in Q2 2022.

The Rathdowney Trend is a major mineralised trend within the Irish Midlands Orefield. The trend reflects a major suture formed during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and the subsequent Caledonian Orogeny during the Late Silurian/Early Devonian 

This structure was re-activated during extensional tectonics in the Carboniferous which controlled basin formation and acted as a conduit for base metal rich fluids from the basement to form the zinc-lead deposits in the belt. Mineralised fluids are deposited as flat laying deposits in preferential positions within the stratigraphy, most commonly at the base of the Waulsortian but also in other positions above and below this horizon.

Typical deposit setting; Rathdowney Trend

Large scale long section along the 130km Rathdowney Trend.

Example Rapla Target Zone, Rathdowney Trend.

The Rathdowney Trend contains the Lisheen and Galmoy Deposits (not controlled by the Company). The Lisheen Mine operated between 1999 and 2015 and produced 22.3Mt at 11.7% Zn and 2.0% Pb. Galmoy operated between 1997 and 2012 and produced 8Mt at 12%Zn and 2% Pb. These deposits are located about 80km to the SW of the Company’s Kildare deposit.

There are also a number of historic prospects located within the ground controlled by ZMI. These include Allenwood, Celtic Tiger, Boston Hill, Rickardstown, Derrykearn, Rapla, Barna Lisheen and Holycross.

The presence of multiple deposits and prospects throughout the Rathdowney Trend indicate that it is highly prospective along a significant portion of its length which augurs well for further discoveries.

While a variety of companies have, over multiple decades, conducted exploration programmes at various locations along the Rathdowney Trend this work was often restricted to relatively small areas. As a result of this, a wealth of  exploration data, including soil and deep overburden geochemical surveys, geophysics (magnetic, IP, EM and gravity surveys) and drilling data is readily available to ZMI via the Department of Climate Change and Environment, Exploration and Mining Division (DCCAE-EMD) website. This allows ZMI the opportunity to compile, consolidate and analyse all the historic data to identify priority target areas for further exploration. Due to the size of the Rathdowney Trend and the amounts of data available, the integration of all previous exploration data is expected to remain ongoing well into 2021. The company has, however, already completed first pass target generation for the entire Trend. This has resulted in the identification of several high order, drill ready, exploration targets.

Cautionary Note.

It should be noted that the drill hole results included for each prospect have been sourced from the DECC-EMD website and that the compliance or otherwise of previous company results with JORC and ASX requirements is not implied by ZMI.

RATHDOWNEY PROJECT-BELT SCALE EXPLORATION POSITION – RAPLA TARGET

The Rapla prospect is located approximately 5km northeast of the Galmoy deposit.

Previous drilling has demonstrated mineralisation (>24m% Zn + Pb) over an area of 2km x 1km, including better results of;

• Hole 3312-42 6.0m at 10.4 % Zn + Pb and 3.1m at 17.5% Zn + Pb
• Hole 3312-71 7.4m at 14.6% Zn + Pb
• Hole 3312-61 4.1m at 7.1% Zn + Pb

The Rapla area constitutes a highly prospective region and can be considered to be part of the greater Lisheen / Galmoy mineralising system with strongly analogous geological and structural settings.

The historic drilling has been very widely spaced and has intersected significant Zn / Pb rich, massive / semi-massive sulphide mineralisation, hosted within breccias close to the basal contact of the Waulsortian Reef.

Correlation between the historic drill pattern and the Lisheen deposit indicates that the hit rate and results are strongly comparable with what would be expected for this type of heterogenous, large tonnage, high grade deposit.

Highest grades and thicknesses are expected to be found immediately adjacent to the controlling feeder faults, where the vertical thickness may exceed 20m but with often modest footprints. An example is the high grade zones at Lisheen: Main Zone South 300m x 150m, Derryville Zone South 170m x 125m, Bog Zone West 90m x 90m and Bog Zone East 100m x 130m.

The region immediately adjacent to the Rapla Fault is relatively untested by the historic drilling and provides an opportunity for discrete zones of very high grade and thick massive sulphide mineralisation.

ZMI intend to explore for thick / high grade zones of mineralisation (analogous to Main South) by stepping from historic intercepts back towards the main controlling structure. Consideration has also been given to a scout drilling programme to discover new zones of mineralisation.

The Rapla Prospect exhibits spatial periodicity with known, world class Zn/Pn deposits along the Rathdowney Trend and is underdrilled despite hosting multiple, historic, high grade drilling intercepts (see insert).

Best results from other prospects on the Rathdowney Trend include;

• Allenwood West: 1.5m @ 10.5% Zn+Pb from 160.1m; and 2.6m @ 9.2% Zn+Pb
• Celtic Tiger 23.95m at 8.6% Zn + Pb, 2.9m at 21.1% Zn + Pb, 2.3m at 10.5% Zn + Pb; and 7.9m at 5.7% Zn + Pb.
• Boston Hill: 15.2m at 5.25% Zn + Pb, 6.1m at 5.9% Zn + Pb
• Rickardstown: 6.1m at 9.8% Zn + Pb
• Derrykearn: 6.0m at 17.0% Zn + Pb, 3m at 13% Zn + Pb; 2.4m at 16.4% Zn + Pb
• Barna Lisheen: 6.8m at 7.3% Zn + Pb