IRISH MINERALS AND BUILDING STONES. 21 



Cork, encouraged a considerable amount of speculation. Here, again, 

 copper pyrites is the prevailing ore. Mr. Kinahan points out that the Bon- 

 mahon group of mines was well exploited from 1824 down to the dis- 

 mantling of the works in 1880 ; but veins and pockets may yet be struck in 

 the south of Ireland which will provide material of equal value to that of 

 the worked-out undertakings. Some of the ultimately successful areas were 

 abandoned or sold by previous owners because the first years of work were 

 discouraging. 



Copper pyrites has been sporadically mined in many other parts of 

 Ireland. Even at the sea-inlet of Loughshinny, south of Skerries, in County 

 Dublin, adits exist in the Upper Carboniferous shales, from which, as Kane 

 says, ore was " raised from time to time." 



Lead and zinc are commonly raised together, the two sulphides. Galena 

 and Blende, being the prevalent Irish ores. Fine 



Lead, Silver, and crystals of Cerussite (lead carbonate) have been ob- 

 Zinc. tained from the mines of Glenmalure in County Wick- 



low ; while Smithsonite (zinc carbonate) occurs, as a 

 product of replacement of limestone, in the Silvermines works near Nenagh.* 

 As is well known, silver is a common accessory in galena, and the argenti- 

 ferous ore was worked at Silvermines even in the seventeenth century. The 

 richness of this lode makes further prospecting advisable, both in west 

 Tipperary and in Clare. 



Galena was recently raised, to the extent of 30 to 40 tons per annum, 

 in County Wicklow, the ore in Glendasan giving 8 to 10 ounces of silver to 

 the ton.f Smelting is still carried on at Ballycorus, in the south of County 

 Dublin ; but the ore is imported, and the old workings in the Ordovician 

 shales, like so many lead-veins in Ireland, are regarded as now unprofitable. 

 Galena was also formerly worked in the southern part of County Monaghan, 

 and this area may yet deserve careful prospecting. While a great number 

 of occurrences of galena have been recorded from the Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone area, it cannot be said that this ore is limited in Ireland to any par- 

 ticular formation. 



The abundance of pre-historic gold ornaments in Ireland has suggested 

 that the metal was of local origin ; and this is by no 

 Gold. means unlikely, despite the barter and commerce that 



went on in Europe, even in the remote period when 

 these articles were fashioned. The metal, however, was doubtless alluvial, 

 and had accumulated in the gravels of Wicklow, and perhaps of Donegal, 

 for untold ages before man came into the country. When its use and value 

 became discovered, the deposits doubtless were rapidly worked out, and the 

 centuries that have since elapsed have seen only a trivial amount of denu- 

 dation and accumulation, compared with the long epochs that went before. 

 Hence in Ireland, as in Peru, latter-day gold-mining has been of little 

 importance, and the material may be sought with most success in the 

 tombs and hidden treasuries of prehistoric chieftains. 



The Croghan Kinshelagh and Ovoca districts in the County of Wicklow 

 have, however, produced considerable quantities of gold from alluvial work- 

 ings during the last hundred years or so ; and it was the opinion of Mr. Gerrard 



* lukes, Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin, vol. x. (1863), p. 12. Apjohn records also electric cala- 

 mine (/J/c/., vol. viii., p. 157) ; and Wynne has given a general description of the Silvermines 

 district {ibid., vol. viii., p. 244). 



t The Luganure lodes are described by Sir Warington Smyth (Records of the School of 

 Mines, vol. i. (1853), p. 353 ; see also Haughton, Journ. G. S. Dublin, vol. vi., p. 168). 



