The Bula lead and zinc orebody at Navan has been offered for sale by the receiver to Bula Ltd. The orebody near Navan, Co Meath comprises reserves of about eight million tonnes and has been advertised worldwide.

The Bula mine was the subject of the Republic's longest running legal battle, lasting almost 300 days in court over almost 10 years. The directors of Bula Ltd had claimed that the Minister for Energy and Tara Mines Ltd were responsible for the failure to bring the lead and zinc mine into production.

The mine is being offered for sale "free of all liabilities and encumbrances." Companies must signal expressions of interest by June 4th to the receiver Mr Laurence Crowley.

Technical information will be made available to "selected parties". It is thought that a deal could be concluded within a few months.

It is understood that the mine has attracted overseas interest. Sources said the mine could operate from a greenfield situation - in other words there are enough reserves for it to be financially worthwhile for a company to build facilities from scratch to extract the lead and zinc.

The obvious buyer is Tara Mines, whose operation borders the orebody. Tara's managing director, Mr Charlie Byrne, was unavailable yesterday, but he previously indicated that Tara would be interested in acquiring the facility. It is unclear how much the Bula orebody is worth. Bula Ltd has huge debts and it is understood that several banks are owed in excess of £20 million and they will have first call on the proceeds of the sale.

Bula Ltd which was set up to develop the mine is 49 per cent owned by the State. Other shareholders include Bula founder Mr Michael Wymes and Mr Richard Wood, A Cork farmer and business man.