Public Inquiry into controversial goldmine proposals suspended

THE upcoming Public Inquiry into controversial proposals to build a goldmine outside Greencastle has been suspended, the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) has announced.

The inquiry into Dalradian Gold’s application for a mine and processing plant in the Sperrins was due to take place this September.

But, in an online statement published yesterday (Thursday) evening, the PAC’s Chief Commissioner, Andrea Kells, said it would now be ‘imprudent’ to proceed with the scheduled opening of the hearing sessions.

The PAC’s decision, and the problems which have led to the suspension, centre on licences for water abstraction and impoundment licences. These are required to abstract water from the ground and surface water around the proposed mine and impound that water.

It is proposed to use the impounded water in the processing of the ore at the goldmine.

While the licensing applications fall under a different consenting body, the PAC says that they are ‘integral’ to the operation of the mine.

But, at the moment, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Planning says that ‘if the submitted licences add nothing new, the Department sees no obvious reason to delay the process’.

The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEARA) has yet to provide a ‘valid direction’ in relation to the licence applications.

The Chief Commissioner said, “The expected resubmitted licence applications and subsequent Public Inquiry referrals will ensure that all the issues associated with the development can be considered in full. The legislative purpose of all the inquiries is to consider the issues raised within the representations to each referring authority.

“It is therefore imperative that the issues raised by those representations are considered comprehensively, especially where different consenting regimes overlap.

“Proceeding with the inquiries in the absence of these two key elements will, in the Commission’s view, fundamentally undermine the ability of the Commission to fulfil its duties satisfactorily and would significantly undermine public confidence in the inquiry process and its outcomes.”

The Commission says it will move to set directions and new states when it is in receipt of a valid direction from the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in relation to the expected abstraction and impoundment licence applications together with all of the relevant papers.