Exploration company, Irish Marine Oil (IMO), has reported discovering wide-ranging gold mineralisation in the south-east.

Some of the gold mineralisation which has been found in IMO's three licence areas in Wexford and Wicklow is commercially viable and according to chairman, Mr John Teeling, even the normally circumspect local farmers are excited.

"There is certainly something there, but the question we are now assessing is whether a mining operation would be commercially viable," said Mr Teeling.

To do that means more drilling through lower Palaeozoic and precambrian rocks later in the year: in other words more holes in more fields.

"You can speculate all you like, but the only way to do it is to drill holes in the ground and see what's there. Unfortunately doing that is quite expensive," said Mr Teeling.

In the first licence area at Kilmichael, Co Wexford, a quartz vein yielded 18.24 grams per tonne, while another hole contained 35.05 grams per tonne or 0.7 of a metre. In the second licence area, at Tombreen, Co Wicklow, the best result was a grade of 0.41 grams per tonne. One of the test holes at its third licence area at Knocknalour, on the Wicklow/ Wexford border, yielded a grade of 19.95 grams per tonne.

A local gold rush is not expected just yet however, as IMO still needs to obtain more information about the local geology.

"Some of the veins run out after a short time so that could be a problem," said Mr Teeling.

"The chances of finding a viable gold prospect are normally 500 to 1 against, I would say that we are at 5 to 1 at this stage," he said.

IMO also released its annual report yesterday showing losses of £51,000 for the year ended April 30th.