Since 2000, the Exploration and Mining Division (EMD) is releasing all of its non-confidential exploration data. The types of exploration data made available by EMD includes:
- Prospecting Licence Gorund Status
- Exploration Company Reports.
- Geospatial (GIS) Data
- Airborne Geophysics Data
- Bibliography of Irish Mineral Resources
Prospecting Licence Ground status
The status of exploration ground is available online though EMD’s Location / Permit Status web mapping service. This should be consulted before applying for licences.
Exploration Company Reports
All Prospecting Licences (PL) holders in Ireland are required to submit exploration reports. Normally submitted every two years to EMD, reports are released free online after six years or upon surrender of a licence if earlier. To date, in excess of 2200 company reports relating to over 1700 PL Areas have been made available online. To view these reports, please use our search engine. There is also an historic CD (Gold in Ireland [2005]) which EMD still has copies available. Email EMD.info@dcenr.gov.ie for a copy.
Drillhole Data
The Exploration and Mining Division has released online data for over 2,600 drillholes to date. This information can be accessed through the Exploration Map theme Interactive Maps Service. To find the desired drillhole you must know the Prospecting Licence Area (PLA) number. You can locate the required PLA by using the Gazetter and it will zoom to the requested extent.
Information about drillholes is stored in two ways in EMD. The first is an attributes table an example of which is displayed below. This only gives basic information about the drillhole and includes the name of Exploration report it was submitted with. Secondly the full drillhole log is attached as a hyperlink within the attributes. This will display the log as a PDF format file and for this you will need a copy of acrobat reader available by clicking on the icon below.
Geospatial (GIS) Data
The Exploration and Mining Division have published large volumes of exploration, mining, environmental and location/permit status geospatial data. These data is free to download or alternatively can be visualised on screen using a user-friendly, map viewer tool. To find out more about the types of spatial data that are available and how you can access it, please click on the following link: Geospatial Data Available From EMD.
Airborne Geophysics Data
EMD holds all airborne survey data flown by industry in Ireland, since 1995. This data is made available after 6 years to exploration clients by request on CD. To learn more about which airborne surveys are available, please take a look at (The Airborne Data Release Initiative).
In 2007 the Central Ireland Basin was re-processed and re-interpreted as part of a project between EMD and PGW Europe Ltd. Geophysical interpretation and total field magnetic maps have been produced, which are also available from EMD, free of charge. An information leaflet called the Airborne Magnetic Interpretation Initiative is with more information.
Bibliography of Irish Mineral Resources
EMD has made available a bibliography of publications and selected reports concerning Irish mineral resources (1750-2007). The references themselves are not available from EMD. Should any one identify any erroneous or missing mineral resource references, please feel free to advise EMD by emailing emd.info@dcenr.gov.ie.
In addition to specialist exploration data, EMD has also produced a number of more general publications on exploration and mining in Ireland. To view the full range of publications available for download, please visit our publications page.