A proposed gold mine in the Sperrin Mountains is a long-running bone of contention dividing the local community.
Even before COVID-19, be it in the pub, at the mart or at a wake, most people around Greencastle and Gortin in Co Tyrone want to avoid the controversial topic of the Curraghinalt gold mine.
“There are families that are impacted by this. There are brothers not speaking to each other over it,” said Emmet McAleer, an independent councillor on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.
McAleer ran in last May’s local government elections on an anti-gold mining ticket. He polled almost 900 first-preference votes and was the first candidate over the line in the mid-Tyrone ward.
“For whatever reason, councillors, MLAs and MPs weren’t speaking about this issue. To us, it was the biggest thing that was going on in our area. We felt the time was right to field someone to give a voice to local people and address those concerns,” McAleer said.
Geologist works on drill sections from Curraghinalt.\ Dalradian
The Sperrins have one of largest untapped gold deposits in the world. Exploratory work originally began during the Troubles in the 1980s, but had to be abandoned as explosives were needed to make inroads into the hard rock.
Canadian mining company Dalradian have been exploring the possibility of mining gold in the area since 2009. They estimate that gold reserves in the Currighinalt project are worth $10bn (€8.8bn), and there is also silver and copper underground.
Objections
A planning application was filed in 2017 and is currently under consideration by Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure. At the time of writing, the proposed mine and processing plant had 34,686 objections and 3,968 letters of support.
“There are people who look at it in the short term and see the jobs. There are people that look at the bigger picture and see the threat,” McAleer said.
An anti-goldmining sign outside Dungiven, Co Derry. \ Peter McCann
Those opposed to the gold mine are worried about the potential environmental impact on the local area. Concerns about changes to the landscape and noise from mining explosives and traffic are also frequently raised.
The issue became particularly contentious when Dalradian proposed using the toxic chemical cyanide in the process of extracting gold from the mined ore material.
The cyanide proposal was dropped in August 2019 and the current plan is for the ore to be partially refined on-site then shipped overseas for the final steps in the process.
The changes did not reassure anti-gold mining campaigners, such as Save Our Sperrins and Greencastle, Rouskey and Gortin Concerned Community. Roadside signs stating “No to toxic mining” and “Dalradian out of Ireland” can still be seen across Tyrone and Derry.
The “Greencastle People’s Office” is a protest camp situated near the proposed mine and is manned by campaigners almost 24/7. The protestors, who stay in caravans on the site, post daily updates on social media and have been doing so for over 800 days.
Jobs
Those who are supportive of the mine point to the economic benefits of job creation in an area that has limited employment opportunities.
“There’s a whole gamut of occupations that will be very familiar to local people, such as driving jobs, maintenance, mechanics, welders, fitters, electricians, and so on. When the mine is operational, we will employ in excess of 350,” said Peter McKenna, Dalradian’s community relations manager.
Peter McKenna, Dalradian’s community relations manager, at the entrance to the tunnel. \ Odile Evans
The company maintains that spin-off jobs will create further employment in the local area.
“It’s at least a two-to-one in mining operations around the world. We’re also quite lucky in that Co Tyrone is such a huge capital for engineering anyway,” McKenna said.
Mitigating measures
Dalradian says that there will be no open cast mine work and no tailings dams, which was the traditional method of managing mine waste. Instead, around 85% of the waste rock will be backfilled into the mine and the remainder will be stored above ground.
The firm says that with an average thickness of 17m, the above-ground store will be re-vegetated during operations and blended into the local landscape. A water treatment facility is also planned, which aims to leave all discharged water with natural levels of minerals.
Driller and drill helper examine rock core samples from exploration drilling. \ Dalradian
For every tonne of material extracted, there is just half an ounce of gold, which means that the mining process to extract 3.5m ounces of gold is expected to take over 20 years. During that time, continuous exploration would take place to see if there are further gold deposits.
“We would hope that we will be able to put in part two and maybe a part three [planning] application in coming decades. We’re pretty confident as rocks like these in North America have gold mines that are lasting for 100 years or more. We foresee an industry being built here as opposed to a 20-year project,” McKenna said.
Future worries
However, concerns about what future planning applications could include is a key reason why many locals still oppose the current proposals, even after cyanide-based processing was dropped.
“We have not softened our stance – if anything, it’s got stronger,” said Greencastle farmer Michael McGlinchey.
The sheep and suckler farmer’s sons and daughters are all living in the local area with families of their own, but he suggests they will consider moving if the plans get approved.
“It’s impossible that there won’t be damaging side effects of this mine. All the rock has to be blasted out and processed, leaving a massive waste dump on the side of Crockanboy Hill.
Core from Dalradian's drilling programme yields a quartz vein with pyrite and gold mineralisation. \ Dalradian Gold
“It would no longer be the safe, beautiful area that we currently live and work in,” McGlinchey said.
With no Executive sitting at Stormont for three years, there was no Minister in post at the Department for Infrastructure until January 2020 and the planning process for the mine was delayed.
“The Dalradian planning application and accompanying Environmental Statement is one of the largest applications processed by the planning system in Northern Ireland,” a Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said.
“This Department continues to progress this application,” they added.
Gauging views of the silent majority
Like many contentious planning applications, opponents tend to be vocal and the views of the “silent majority” are more difficult to gauge.
Dalradian have an ongoing recruitment drive to get people on a list for jobs if the mine gets planning approval, although opponents argue that it is a campaign to win hearts and minds.
When Emmet McAleer was canvassing during the local government elections last year, how was he received on the doorsteps?
“The reception I received was overwhelming. There was nobody who said anything negative to me,” McAleer maintains.
“There were people who were unsure, but they would have chatted with me and taken the leaflets and said they would have a read through it. There was no animosity, no hostility,” he added.
But there are supporters of the gold mine in the local area, many of whom have applied for jobs at Dalradian, although most want to remain nameless.
A public advocate for the gold mine is Aimee Moore. She is one of around 30 people currently employed by Dalradian working as an administrator in their office in Gortin.
Aimee Moore is one of 30 people employed by Dalradian Gold. \ Odile Evans
“As part of my placement year, I travelled to Lurgan, so it was two and a half hours in the car every day. I knew I didn’t want to travel to Belfast and that’s where a lot of the graduate opportunities were, there were very few in Omagh,” Moore said.
“Dalradian has given me the opportunity to stay here. So many people I know have gone to Australia,” she said.
Gerry Kelly is a mechanic working for the Road Service in Omagh. He says he lives about two miles from the gold mine site and is involved in a group called “The Silent Majority” which was set up 12 months ago and is in favour of the gold mine.
“In our part of the country, all the young people are emigrating to Australia for work. The people who are protesting would protest against anything that moves. We’ve visited Tara Mines in Navan and talked to the locals. They say that for every job created in the mine, there is a spin-off of 2.5 jobs in the area,” Gerry said.
“There are open rock quarries operating in this area for the last 80 years and they haven’t caused any problems, it is the same process for the gold mine only underground, so you won’t even see it. Health and safety is also very tight, so I can’t see the mine causing problems. People in our area need the work and travel to Belfast every day for minimum wage. There’s a lot of in favour of the mine.”
Narrow vein mining and fool’s gold
The Curraghinalt gold mine currently has an opening big enough for low-profile machinery. Parts of the tunnel were built in the 1980s, and when Irish Country Living visited, there were seven inches of water in places that required wellies to get through.
The “host” rock is mostly metamorphic schist.
Sample from the Curraghinalt gold deposit. \ Dalradian
However, there are white stripes of gold-bearing quartz, otherwise known as the ore, which were pushed up through the host rock at a later stage during some geological event.
The quartz veins sparkle from the dim light of the torches. However, it was explained that this is “fool’s gold” and that the bits that look like gold leaf are not the gold itself, but do contain it.
The aim of the mining process here is to take out those white quartz stripes, which is why it is called “narrow vein mining”.
A proposed gold mine in the Sperrin Mountains is a long-running bone of contention dividing the local community.
Even before COVID-19, be it in the pub, at the mart or at a wake, most people around Greencastle and Gortin in Co Tyrone want to avoid the controversial topic of the Curraghinalt gold mine.
“There are families that are impacted by this. There are brothers not speaking to each other over it,” said Emmet McAleer, an independent councillor on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.
McAleer ran in last May’s local government elections on an anti-gold mining ticket. He polled almost 900 first-preference votes and was the first candidate over the line in the mid-Tyrone ward.
“For whatever reason, councillors, MLAs and MPs weren’t speaking about this issue. To us, it was the biggest thing that was going on in our area. We felt the time was right to field someone to give a voice to local people and address those concerns,” McAleer said.
Geologist works on drill sections from Curraghinalt.\ Dalradian
The Sperrins have one of largest untapped gold deposits in the world. Exploratory work originally began during the Troubles in the 1980s, but had to be abandoned as explosives were needed to make inroads into the hard rock.
Canadian mining company Dalradian have been exploring the possibility of mining gold in the area since 2009. They estimate that gold reserves in the Currighinalt project are worth $10bn (€8.8bn), and there is also silver and copper underground.
Objections
A planning application was filed in 2017 and is currently under consideration by Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure. At the time of writing, the proposed mine and processing plant had 34,686 objections and 3,968 letters of support.
“There are people who look at it in the short term and see the jobs. There are people that look at the bigger picture and see the threat,” McAleer said.
An anti-goldmining sign outside Dungiven, Co Derry. \ Peter McCann
Those opposed to the gold mine are worried about the potential environmental impact on the local area. Concerns about changes to the landscape and noise from mining explosives and traffic are also frequently raised.
The issue became particularly contentious when Dalradian proposed using the toxic chemical cyanide in the process of extracting gold from the mined ore material.
The cyanide proposal was dropped in August 2019 and the current plan is for the ore to be partially refined on-site then shipped overseas for the final steps in the process.
The changes did not reassure anti-gold mining campaigners, such as Save Our Sperrins and Greencastle, Rouskey and Gortin Concerned Community. Roadside signs stating “No to toxic mining” and “Dalradian out of Ireland” can still be seen across Tyrone and Derry.
The “Greencastle People’s Office” is a protest camp situated near the proposed mine and is manned by campaigners almost 24/7. The protestors, who stay in caravans on the site, post daily updates on social media and have been doing so for over 800 days.
Jobs
Those who are supportive of the mine point to the economic benefits of job creation in an area that has limited employment opportunities.
“There’s a whole gamut of occupations that will be very familiar to local people, such as driving jobs, maintenance, mechanics, welders, fitters, electricians, and so on. When the mine is operational, we will employ in excess of 350,” said Peter McKenna, Dalradian’s community relations manager.
Peter McKenna, Dalradian’s community relations manager, at the entrance to the tunnel. \ Odile Evans
The company maintains that spin-off jobs will create further employment in the local area.
“It’s at least a two-to-one in mining operations around the world. We’re also quite lucky in that Co Tyrone is such a huge capital for engineering anyway,” McKenna said.
Mitigating measures
Dalradian says that there will be no open cast mine work and no tailings dams, which was the traditional method of managing mine waste. Instead, around 85% of the waste rock will be backfilled into the mine and the remainder will be stored above ground.
The firm says that with an average thickness of 17m, the above-ground store will be re-vegetated during operations and blended into the local landscape. A water treatment facility is also planned, which aims to leave all discharged water with natural levels of minerals.
Driller and drill helper examine rock core samples from exploration drilling. \ Dalradian
For every tonne of material extracted, there is just half an ounce of gold, which means that the mining process to extract 3.5m ounces of gold is expected to take over 20 years. During that time, continuous exploration would take place to see if there are further gold deposits.
“We would hope that we will be able to put in part two and maybe a part three [planning] application in coming decades. We’re pretty confident as rocks like these in North America have gold mines that are lasting for 100 years or more. We foresee an industry being built here as opposed to a 20-year project,” McKenna said.
Future worries
However, concerns about what future planning applications could include is a key reason why many locals still oppose the current proposals, even after cyanide-based processing was dropped.
“We have not softened our stance – if anything, it’s got stronger,” said Greencastle farmer Michael McGlinchey.
The sheep and suckler farmer’s sons and daughters are all living in the local area with families of their own, but he suggests they will consider moving if the plans get approved.
“It’s impossible that there won’t be damaging side effects of this mine. All the rock has to be blasted out and processed, leaving a massive waste dump on the side of Crockanboy Hill.
Core from Dalradian's drilling programme yields a quartz vein with pyrite and gold mineralisation. \ Dalradian Gold
“It would no longer be the safe, beautiful area that we currently live and work in,” McGlinchey said.
With no Executive sitting at Stormont for three years, there was no Minister in post at the Department for Infrastructure until January 2020 and the planning process for the mine was delayed.
“The Dalradian planning application and accompanying Environmental Statement is one of the largest applications processed by the planning system in Northern Ireland,” a Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said.
“This Department continues to progress this application,” they added.
Gauging views of the silent majority
Like many contentious planning applications, opponents tend to be vocal and the views of the “silent majority” are more difficult to gauge.
Dalradian have an ongoing recruitment drive to get people on a list for jobs if the mine gets planning approval, although opponents argue that it is a campaign to win hearts and minds.
When Emmet McAleer was canvassing during the local government elections last year, how was he received on the doorsteps?
“The reception I received was overwhelming. There was nobody who said anything negative to me,” McAleer maintains.
“There were people who were unsure, but they would have chatted with me and taken the leaflets and said they would have a read through it. There was no animosity, no hostility,” he added.
But there are supporters of the gold mine in the local area, many of whom have applied for jobs at Dalradian, although most want to remain nameless.
A public advocate for the gold mine is Aimee Moore. She is one of around 30 people currently employed by Dalradian working as an administrator in their office in Gortin.
Aimee Moore is one of 30 people employed by Dalradian Gold. \ Odile Evans
“As part of my placement year, I travelled to Lurgan, so it was two and a half hours in the car every day. I knew I didn’t want to travel to Belfast and that’s where a lot of the graduate opportunities were, there were very few in Omagh,” Moore said.
“Dalradian has given me the opportunity to stay here. So many people I know have gone to Australia,” she said.
Gerry Kelly is a mechanic working for the Road Service in Omagh. He says he lives about two miles from the gold mine site and is involved in a group called “The Silent Majority” which was set up 12 months ago and is in favour of the gold mine.
“In our part of the country, all the young people are emigrating to Australia for work. The people who are protesting would protest against anything that moves. We’ve visited Tara Mines in Navan and talked to the locals. They say that for every job created in the mine, there is a spin-off of 2.5 jobs in the area,” Gerry said.
“There are open rock quarries operating in this area for the last 80 years and they haven’t caused any problems, it is the same process for the gold mine only underground, so you won’t even see it. Health and safety is also very tight, so I can’t see the mine causing problems. People in our area need the work and travel to Belfast every day for minimum wage. There’s a lot of in favour of the mine.”
Narrow vein mining and fool’s gold
The Curraghinalt gold mine currently has an opening big enough for low-profile machinery. Parts of the tunnel were built in the 1980s, and when Irish Country Living visited, there were seven inches of water in places that required wellies to get through.
The “host” rock is mostly metamorphic schist.
Sample from the Curraghinalt gold deposit. \ Dalradian
However, there are white stripes of gold-bearing quartz, otherwise known as the ore, which were pushed up through the host rock at a later stage during some geological event.
The quartz veins sparkle from the dim light of the torches. However, it was explained that this is “fool’s gold” and that the bits that look like gold leaf are not the gold itself, but do contain it.
The aim of the mining process here is to take out those white quartz stripes, which is why it is called “narrow vein mining”.
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