Vancouver-based minerals explorer Alba expects to begin drilling at its Limerick base metal project in April or May of this year, it has told shareholders.

The Canadian company said in a shareholder update that it had lodged an application for a water discharge permit ahead of its proposed drilling campaign. Alba has been informed that it is likely to take approximately two months before the permit is issued but that it would then be in a position to commence the project.

“In Ireland, we remain on track for drilling one or more identified Zinc-Lead targets in April or May,” said Alba’s executive chairman, George Frangeskides.

Alba owns 100pc of the Limerick base metal project, which was originally a joint venture with Teck Ireland, a subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited, one of Canada’s largest diversified mining companies. Alba, which is also exploring for oil and gas in England, pictured, renewed the licence for the project when Teck withdrew four years ago but it was not clear whether a drilling programme would follow.

Recent months have seen increased activity at a number of metals prospects around the country. Earlier this month, another Canadian mining company, Hannan Metals Limited announced that drilling had commenced at the Kilmurry project within its Clare zinc project after it had received final drilling permissions from the authorities.

The Kilmurry zinc prospect is 9km south of Hannan’s Kilbricken zinc-lead-silver resource in Co Clare.

“The Kilmurry area is highly prospective and demonstrates all the right ingredients for a major base metal system where the scale of the untested fault and host rock point to the potential for a transformative discovery,” said Michael Hudson, Hannan’s chairman and CEO.

“This target is a direct outcome of the regional target generation work, driven by the seismic surveys completed by Hannan over the last year.”

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