Northmin Corporation (TSXV: NMB) has been provisionally offered Prospecting Licence Area 186 in Ireland, giving the company 100% control of the historic Keel zinc-silver-lead deposit in County Longford after a competitive bid process.
The licence will be held through Irish subsidiary Viridian Metals Ireland and also covers the nearby Garrycam barite-zinc deposit. Keel sits 68 kilometres northeast of Northmin’s Tynagh project.
The deposit carries a historic JORC-compliant estimate prepared by Payne Geological Services in 2020, consisting of:
- Inferred resources of 11.2 million tonnes grading 4.5% zinc, 17 g/t silver and 0.6% lead
- Containing 510,000 tonnes of zinc, 6.14 million ounces of silver and 72,000 tonnes of lead
Keel has a long paper trail. Rio Tinto’s exploration arm, Riofinex, discovered the deposit in the 1960s and sank a shaft with underground development between 1964 and 1968, although the project never advanced to production because it fell short of Rio Tinto’s size threshold. Riofinex and its joint venture partners held the ground until 1999, and successive operators drilled more than 280 holes across Keel and Garrycam.
The most recent holder, Diversified Asset Holdings, controlled the licence from 2014 to November 2025. Its partner, ASX-listed Longford Resources, completed a 12 hole verification program in 2017 that returned 83 metres grading 4.10% zinc plus lead and 29 g/t silver from a depth of 134 metres in hole KD_2017_02.
Northmin has obtained the full drill hole database, 3D wireframes and block model behind the 2020 estimate, covering 83 diamond holes and 15,968 metres. Samples from Keel have also returned elevated gallium values that the company plans to evaluate.
“Having added such high-quality projects with no dilution is rare and reflects the company’s focus on adding value on a per share basis,” said CEO Julian Vickers. He added that Keel “adds a second advanced stage zinc-silver-lead asset to the portfolio in Ireland.”
Alongside Keel, Northmin was offered Prospecting Licence Area 3925 through a standard application. The licence covers the earlier stage Oldcastle zinc-lead prospect along the Drumlerry Fault in County Meath, where historic drilling was largely vertical and widely spaced. Both licences are 100%-owned and royalty free.
The two-year commitment at Keel is modest, requiring at least two diamond drill holes. Once the licence is formally granted, Northmin plans to rebuild the historic database, update the geological model and scan available core to test ore sorting potential. The company is assessing Keel as potential satellite feed in a regional hub-and-spoke model centred on Tynagh.
The additions bring Northmin’s Irish portfolio to nine licences. In July, the company was granted six licences around Tynagh, expanding its ground position from 46.4 to 215.7 square kilometres, and received a permit for a 39 hole infill drilling program on the Tynagh tailings ponds that runs until June 2028.
Northmin Corporation last traded at $0.45 on the TSX Venture.
