Firm doesn’t need planning permit for drill holes at mine

FERMANAGH and Omagh District Council has decided that a local mining company will not have to seek planning permission to carry out two drill holes near Omagh.

Flintridge Resources, which operates the facility at Cavanacaw, had applied to complete two holes in its search for minerals, including gold and silver. The holes are 155 and 190 metres long and were discussed at a meeting of the council’s planning committee on Monday.

A planning official with the council said that it had received the application on August 28, and had 28 days to make a decision on whether to issue a direction. Such a direction would force Flintridge Resources to then make a planning application for the work to be completed.

However, the decision not to issue a direction means that the company will not be able to drill the boreholes in accordance with the information that they have submitted to the council. They are not permitted to carry out works on an area of bogland near the site of the mine.

The deadline for a decision expires tomorrow (Friday), September 15.

Councillors on the committee made the decision in line with the recommendation of planning officers not to issue the direction.

Mining at the Cavanacaw site has been ongoing for three decades. Initially, the application to open the mine was subject to a public inquiry which took place in the early 1990s.