Talking of Irish telephone poles. You probably didn't realise it but it was the Irish Post Office that discovered the very large Lisheen zinc deposit.

They were replacing a badly leaning telephone pole and on pulling the old one out found lots of orangy-black crystals coating the rotton wood. It turned out to be sphalerite - zinc sulphide - and an important ore of the metal. Oh the luck of the Irish! [Linked Image]