The Mining Company of Ireland (MCI) was a mining company which operated in Ireland, starting in 1824.

History

The Mining Company of Ireland (MCI) was formed in 1824 by an Act of Parliament following an inaugural meeting of interested philanthropic gentlemen in Dublin on 5 February 1824 in the

Dublin Chamber of Commerce Dublin Chamber of Commerce also known as the Dublin Chamber, is the oldest chamber of commerce in Ireland. Origins The Dublin Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1783. It had been preceded by other collective bodies including the Guild of Merc ...

. The company initially offered four thousand £25 shares, at a maximum of 25 shares per person. MCI purchased Luganure Mine,

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

, and worked it for 66 years. Over this time it yielded 50,000 tonnes of lead and 25,000 ounces of silver. The company also prospected at the copper mine at

Ballydehob Ballydehob () is a coastal village in the southwest of County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the R592 regional road, at a junction with the N71 national secondary road. History During the Bronze Age (2200-600 B.C.), copper was mined on Moun ...

, County Cork in the 1850s. It leased an iron ore mine at the

Glen of Imaal The Glen of Imaal ( or ; ga, Gleann Uí Mháil) is a remote glen in the western Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. It is ringed by the Lugnaquilla massif and its foothills, including Table Mountain and Keadeen. Much of the glen is used by the Irish ...

in 1859, but this endeavour was not successful. From 1826, MCI mined lead at Ballycorus, County Dublin. At the Mardyke,

Killenaule Killenaule () is a small town and civil parish in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Killenaule and Moyglass, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and the barony of Slievardagh. It is east of ...

, County Tipperary, the MCI leased land for 21 years to mine coal, and it was the mining operations that resulted in a village developing around it. The MCI operated at a loss at a number of their mines, including the Mardyke, during the Great Famine. The mining industry in Ireland grew until the 1860s, when the events surrounding the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

led to the collapse in mineral prices and the Irish mining industry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mining Company of Ireland Lead mining companies Copper mining companies Companies of Ireland 1824 establishments in Ireland