Hardening stance against Mineral prospecting licences

Devaluation of property and unseen environmental damage are just some of the fears driving locals to unite against proposals to grant mineral prospecting licenses west of Belturbet town.

Residents are being urged to lodge objections ahead of the September 7 deadline, and there is momentum towards forming a group through which protest can be focused.
“The battle is not lost yet,” Hein Ehbrecht defiantly told the last week's well-attended meeting at the Belturbet Civic Centre.
The mood among the 100-strong crowd within the room sided almost exclusively on ensuring any intention to grant prospecting licences to Australian-based private mining company BMEx Pty Ltd as proposed will be resisted.
Minister for Communications and Natural Resources Denis Naughten last month advertised notice of intention to grant licences to BMEx in their search for barytes, base metals, gold and silver across the baroneys of Loughtee, Tullyhaw and Tullyhunco. Incorporating a total of 80 townlands stretching from Drumlane to Ballyconnell and along the Fermanagh border, among those areas included fall within the protected Lough Oughter and Associated Loughs Special Area of Conservation (SAC), as well as the UNESCO recognised Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark.
“There may be people in the area that want the mine. But consider the long term effects a mine when exhausted will have,” urged Mr Ehbrecht, highlighting ongoing controversies at Swedish company Boilden’s Tara Mines in Navan. More than 85 million tonnes of ore have been mined at Tara since it opened in 1977, according to the website of the company that runs it.
Close to exhaustion, its lifespan was controversially extended earlier this year after being granted permission to extend capacity of the mine’s tailings dam, maintaining production at current levels until 2026.
 

Frustration

Only Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley as public representative was present at the meeting, who made apologies for others absent, including party TD Brendan Smith.
The message he has been charged with relaying to others indicated an escalating sense frustration at a perceived lack of information provided by the Department, and a hardening opposition against any attempts to force through their licensing proposal in future.
“I think they’re trying to pull a fast one there,” one of those attending the meeting aid of the Minister's plan, while another voiced that: “even test holes can cause problems”.
One attendee stated they did not want “strangers coming and going as they please” on their land, as is suggested would be permitted under the proposed license remit.
“Unfortunately this is Ireland, they'll get what they want,” was one of the more downbeat views expressed, when referencing the Corrib Gas Field and the Shell to Sea stand-off, as well the decision at national level to provide scope for Eirgrid's plans for the North-South Interconnector.
The wide cross-section of the community included representation from various local stakeholders operating in or near to the proposed prospecting zones, such as the four-star Slieve Russell Hotel and Golf Club and other well-known local businesses.
With much of the lands incorporated within the proposed prospecting zones used in agricultural production, chairman of the IFA's Environment & Rural Affairs Committee Thomas Cooney called for organisations such as EPA and Teagasc to clarify their position on the matter.
 

Stand

There was significant applause for a group who had travelled from Greencastle in Tyrone especially to address the Belturbet meeting, who outlined details of a campaign in their own area against a Canadian mining company's attempts to prospect near the Sperrin Mountains.
They encouraged the community to “educate each other” and to “stand as one” against any attempts by such companies looking to exploit natural resources in the locality.
The Department’s own environmental assessment considers Lough Oughter the “best inland example of a flooded drumlin landscape in Ireland”.
A spokesperson for the Department of Environment clarified the BMEx application is “not an application for mining”. The Department added that companies that have mineral exploration or prospecting licences are “not allowed” to undertake mining activities. “Applying for a Mining Licence / Lease is a separate process to applying for a Prospecting Licence.”