An Irish firm says it has literally struck gold in Co Cavan.

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources says two 'scout' holes drilled on Slieve Glah have identified a new gold zone.

Both drill holes found gold to depths totalling 308 metres.

The first drill hole found low grade gold mineralisation in bedrock of 1.0 metre at 0.5 grams per tonne from 95.0m down hole.

The second intersected 4.0 metres of 0.1 grams per tonne from 124.0m down hole.

The firm says the discovery of gold in bedrock, together with extensive sulphide mineralisation, proves the presence of a mineralising system.

The company believes this provides "a solid starting point" for further exploration.

The new zone of gold was located over 1.5km from where previous drilling and trenching took place.

Gold was also found there, as was announced by the company last month.

Professor Richard Conroy is chairman of Conroy Gold and Natural Resources.

He says: "This new discovery, at a time when the gold price is touching US$1500, is a wonderful result for an early drill hole in this target area and confirms the encouraging results that were observed in the gold-in-soil and deep-overburden sampling and drilling elsewhere on the Slieve Glah Target and the overall potential of the Longford-Down Massif.

"At the north eastern end of its extensive licence area the company has an established JORC resource of over 0.5M ounces gold and an estimated exploration target of a further 8.8M ounces gold."

The gold exploration and development company has operations in Ireland and Finland.

The Irish-registered and incorporated firm is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Main image: File photo shows gold nuggets spill out of a bag onto a table | Image: Arend & Smith/Zuma Press/PA Images