Gold mine plans would risk public health, say opponents
BBCPublic health and the environment will be put at risk if plans for a gold mine in County Tyrone are approved, according to opponents of the scheme.
The Save Our Sperrins group was speaking as a public inquiry into Dalradian's plan for the mine resumed in Omagh on Monday.
Dalradian plans to extract about 100 tonnes of gold, almost 50 tonnes of silver and 15,000 tonnes of copper from the site near Greencastle, County Tyrone.
It said its planning application was for an "environmentally responsible, economically transformative underground mine".
The inquiry was previously suspended twice, in 2024 and 2025.
The Save Our Sperrins group was formed in 2015 to campaign against the proposal.
Members came to the Strule Arts Centre for the resumption of the inquiry.
We've been doing it for 10 years, so eight weeks [of the inquiry] is nothing now," the group's treasurer Fidelma O'Kane said.
"It'll be great to see an end to it.
"We are concerned about the water, the air, the land and the health, things that are basic to our survival.
"That's whats important, it's not about money for people in America or Canada, or profits for businesses.
"This is part of us - we live in the Sperrins, we love the Sperrins and we want it to be safe for our grandchildren and future generations to live there."
Chairperson Marella Fyffe said the group was making "a stand for community, a stand for what matters, a stand for culture".
"We'll go to wherever the road takes us," she said.
Dalradian said the project would create and support up to 1,000 jobs and add £9bn to the Northern Ireland economy.
"Dalradian welcomes the start of the public local inquiry into its planning application for an environmentally responsible, economically transformative underground mine in Tyrone," a spokesperson said.
"Dalradian has submitted extensive proposals for the project which will deliver economic and social benefits for not only our local community but the wider UK and all-island economies.
"The public inquiry is the appropriate forum to consider all aspects of the project."
The application for the mine was submitted in 2017 and amended in 2019 to remove the use of cyanide.
The former Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon requested the planning inquiry in 2021.
The inquiry has been described as unprecedented in its complexity and scale.
It was suspended after just two-and-a-half days in January 2025 after it emerged the Department for Infrastructure had breached its own regulations by failing to notify the Irish government and Donegal County Council about the application.
Early in the opening session Monday, it emerged no representatives of any Irish state bodies were attending the inquiry.
Commissioner Jackie McParland said all state bodies had been invited to participate.
The inquiry will sit for at least 21 days over the next eight to 10 weeks.
It will consider a wide range of issues including cultural and heritage, waste management, landscape, climate and transport, as well as socio-economic aspects.
