Drilling Update

Ormonde Mining PLC
13 May 2004
  

Ormonde Mining PLC

13 May 2004

                               Ormonde Mining plc


                 Drilling to Commence on Spanish Gold Projects


The Board of Ormonde Mining plc ("Ormonde" or "the Company") is pleased to
announce that diamond core drilling will shortly resume at the Salamon gold
deposit in northern Spain, where a drill rig is currently on site. A rig is also
being mobilized to the Las Portas prospect in the Trives area. Upon completion
of these two programmes, drilling is also planned at Tracia, the Company's third
project area.

SALAMON

At Salamon, where the Company is in Joint Venture with the Spanish company
SIEMCALSA, the drilling programme of approximately 1,300 metres is designed to
expand the current resource by testing the following targets:

  • Depth extension to the main mineralized zone, targeting the area
    surrounding an intersection in hole SS-24 (20 metre interval of alteration
    with 6.0 metres grading 2.7 g/t gold and a maximum grade of 4.7 g/t gold),
    some 100 metres below the existing resource.

  • High-grade mineralization in footwall carbonates (20 channel samples with
    an average gold grade of 8.6 g/t).

  • Mineralization in hanging wall conglomerates (chip samples returning best
    values of 9.7, 8.8 and 7.0 g/t gold).

In addition to drilling, soil sampling is commencing immediately east of the
deposit, along the highly prospective, previously unexplored extension of the
main Leon Fault at the Las Salas area.

On the regional front, the first phase of prospecting in 2004 over the broader
Salamon area has been completed. As part of this work, high-grade
nickel-cobalt-copper-gold occurrences 35 kilometres to the west of Salamon were
sampled, and a number of targets based on regional geochemistry and satellite
image interpretation were also visited and sampled. The focus for the next phase
of prospecting will be based on the results of this work.

TRIVES

At Las Portas in the Trives project area, a drilling programme of some 750
metres will test shear-zone hosted gold mineralization along a strike length of
800 metres. Drill holes will test gold mineralization exposed in Roman pits
(e.g. 2.0m @ 7.3 g/t gold and 4.0m @ 4.9 g/t gold in sub-vertical lenses; up to
106.8 g/t gold in multiple, narrow cross-cutting veins) and will be oriented to
allow representative sampling of both these sets of structures.

TRACIA

At Tracia, where the Company has a Joint Venture with IGE AB of Sweden, drilling
will test the best gold-arsenic anomalies identified by last year's soil
geochemistry programme. Ongoing detailed mapping and prospecting within the
anomalous zones have identified new mineralized localities and these will be
integrated with the geochemistry to prioritise drill targets.

In addition to these activities, Ormonde is in active discussions on further
advanced opportunities in Spain, which the Board believes would create real
value for the Company's shareholders.

Ormonde Mining plc is a European exploration company trading on the Exploration
Securities Market (ESM) of the Irish Stock Exchange and on the SEAQ facility in
London.  The Company is focused on developing gold projects in Europe with a
particular emphasis on Spain. Further information about Ormonde and its
activities are available on its website at www.ormondemining.com.


Enquiries to:

Kerr Anderson - Managing Director
Ormonde Mining plc
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]

Mike Donoghue - Non-Executive Chairman
Ormonde Mining plc
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]

Fraser Gardiner - Investor Relations
Ormonde Mining plc
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]

Eugenee Mulhern
Davy Corporate Finance Limited
Tel: [phone]

13 May 2004


ENDS


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