Major Investment will bring social benefits

Development of the mine should help create a better future

Plans by Dalradian to develop an underground gold-silver-copper mine in Tyrone will bring social as well as economic benefits according to professional services firm EY which has conducted an external review of the project.

It concluded that “the development of the mine should help create a better future for the local population”. This includes the creation of c.1,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs and £21m in annual salaries.

It’s widely acknowledged that ‘wealth and health’ are closely related and the review makes a number of observations about the social benefits the mine could deliver.

These include the provision of “more high skilled jobs available in the area”. This would mean fewer people being forced to travel for work outside of the Fermanagh & Omagh District Council (FODC) area and that its talent pool would be retained locally.

With increased discretionary income, the review also concluded that local families would have “greater choices for their children and can help them reach their lifelong potential, improving family life”.

With regard to local skills development, since 2014 Dalradian has provided over 15,000 hours of training for its staff, including international travel to operational mines and work exchanges. According to EY, should the mine become operational, “STEM skills will increase in the area, as Fermanagh & Omagh builds up a reputation for engineering and manufacturing excellence”.

“It will help retain families and talents locally that might not have otherwise found a skilled and well-paid job in the area”