Tara Mine is a
zincZinc , also known as spelter, is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
and
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
mine near
NavanNavan is the largest town and county town or administrative capital of County Meath, Ireland. It is thought to be one of the few places in the world to have a palindromic name .-Name:...
,
County MeathCounty Meath is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Leinster. It was named after the historic kingdom and province of Mide....
,
IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
. In the Navan ore body Tara is an underground mine where the orebody lies between 50 and 900 metres below surface.
The deposit was discovered in 1970, development started in 1973 and production began in 1977. Tara Mine is operated by
BolidenNew Boliden is a Swedish mining and smelting company focusing on production of copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver. Following a series of acquisitions during the 1980s and 1990s the company acquired mining and smelting assets of the Finnish mining and smelting company Outokumpu in 2003. Outokumpu...
. It is the largest zinc mine in Europe and the fifth largest in the world producing 200,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate and 40,000 tonnes of lead concentrate annually.
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Tara Mine is a
zincZinc , also known as spelter, is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
and
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
mine near
NavanNavan is the largest town and county town or administrative capital of County Meath, Ireland. It is thought to be one of the few places in the world to have a palindromic name .-Name:...
,
County MeathCounty Meath is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Leinster. It was named after the historic kingdom and province of Mide....
,
IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
. In the Navan ore body Tara is an underground mine where the orebody lies between 50 and 900 metres below surface.
The deposit was discovered in 1970, development started in 1973 and production began in 1977. Tara Mine is operated by
BolidenNew Boliden is a Swedish mining and smelting company focusing on production of copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver. Following a series of acquisitions during the 1980s and 1990s the company acquired mining and smelting assets of the Finnish mining and smelting company Outokumpu in 2003. Outokumpu...
. It is the largest zinc mine in Europe and the fifth largest in the world producing 200,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate and 40,000 tonnes of lead concentrate annually. The mine life extends past 2015.
Broken ore is delivered to one of five underground crushers and reduced in size to less than 150mm before being carried by conveyor to a 3,600t capacity storage bin of at the base of the production shaft. Skip loading and hoisting are automatic, and ore is supplied, at an hourly rate of 570 tonnes, to the surface coarse ore storage building, with a 30,000t capacity, known as the Tepee. The concentrates are shipped via
Dublin PortDublin Port is Ireland's biggest sea port. It has both historical and contemporary economic importance. Approximatively two-thirds of the Republic of Ireland's port traffic goes via Dublin Port...
to Boliden's smelters in
KokkolaKokkola is a town and municipality of Finland.The town is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
and
Oddais a municipality and town in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Odda was separated from Ullensvang on 1 July 1913. Røldal was merged with Odda on 1 January 1964. The town of Odda is the centre of the landscape of Hardanger, located at the end of the Hardangerfjord.In 1927, Erling Johnson, working...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
and to other smelters throughout Europe.
Due to low zinc prices production was halted between 2001 and 2003. In 2009 production was again threatned as demand for zinc, used to galvanise steel for the car and construction industries, declined sharply due to the slowdown in the global economy. Zinc and lead prices maintained their strength throughout 2009 due to continued demand from China and India. Ore production from Tara Mines continued strongly throughout 2009. A new Auutgenous Grinding mill, which replaces large sections of the original crushing and grinding plant, became operational in October.