Galantas Gold to kick off operations at Irish mine in June
Galantas Gold (TSX, LON: GAL) said on Wednesday it expects to re-start commercial operations at the past producing Omagh gold mine in Northern Ireland in June.
The Canada-headquartered junior said it had made significant progress in rehabilitating the underground workings, refurbishing, acquiring critical mining equipment, and installing electrical, water and ventilation systems.Galantas, however, delayed completion of the secondary egress and installation of the manway, which is a prerequisite for the start of production, to mid-May. It said it needed the extra time for the safe rehabilitation of the ramp access and ore headings.
Omagh’s underground development was paused in 2017 until local police (PSNI) were able to increase availability of anti-terrorism cover.
Blasting activities were halted again in the late 2019 mainly because of limitations imposed by the PSNI. Ore production was then suspended in 2020 due to insufficient funds and the impact of the global pandemic.
Initial production is expected at 4,500 to 5,500 ounces for the balance of the year and to jump to 17,800 ounces of gold in concentrate in 2023, the company said in January.
A second phase development of the mine would target annual production of 35,000 ounces of gold a year, Mining writes.
A plan to extract gold in Northern Ireland’s eastern borderlands has moved closer to fruition
Conroy Gold and Natural Resources PLC says it has now taken the last step in the process of forming a joint venture with Turkish mining firm Demir Export.
It spans an area taking in Clay Lake in south Armagh and Clontibret in northern Monaghan.
It said today that it has now obtained some permissions from the Crown Estate to carry out work in the area.
Conroy said that this “meets the final outstanding condition precedent to completion of the joint venture”.
The joint venture will involve Demir and three separate firms, each representing a different mining area: Conroy Gold (Armagh) Limited, Conroy Gold (Clontibret) Limited and Conroy Gold (Longford Down) Limited.
In a statement released by Conroy Gold PLC, the company chairman Professor Richard Conroy said: “My colleagues and I look forward very much to working with the Demir Export team and building a long term, successful relationship.
“They have the mining expertise and the financial resources not only to bring the Clontibret gold deposit to construction ready status and into operation as a mine, but also to advance the significant gold potential of the other licences along the gold trend to the same status.
“As announced on March 14, 2022, a drilling programme by the joint venture is due to commence towards the end of April. I look forward to making further announcements in due course.”
Professor Conroy is a former Fianna Fail politician and specialist in jet lag with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Gold mining project in Northern Ireland threatens livelihood of communities
One of the promises of the Green New Deal for Europe (GNDE) has been that ‘the GNDE will improve our quality of life by guaranteeing clean air and water;…restoring biodiversity to our communities and by reducing the number of hours we work each week’, however, extractive and mining industries in Europe and throughout the world threaten to undermine this promise, and the welfare of our communities
In a Conference motion ‘Duty to Defend the Environment’ the Irish Congress of Trade Unions noted that proposals to mine gold in the Sperrin Mountains would cause massive environmental pollution to an area of outstanding natural beauty, and threaten the entire Foyle River system.
Threats from extractive industries
In the North West of Ireland, gold mining companies are prospecting in areas such as the Sperrin Mountains in Derry and Tyrone, and in Inishowen in Donegal. The communities in this part of Ulster have become very concerned that the toxicity produced by these mining activities could severely impact the health of residents by leaking into the rivers, lakes and soil in the region.
In the Sperrins, a Canadian-registered mining corporation, Dalradian, is trying to gain permission to construct a mine in order to extract 40 tonnes of gold over twenty years. In Inishowen – a neighbouring county – Arkle Resources is applying for a license extension to continue its prospecting work.
Arkle, which is a Dublin-registered company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has also announced intentions to drill for gold in an area covering the south eastern counties of Wexford and Wicklow. The health risks posed by mining are therefore not a localised problem, but one spreading across the entire country.
In December of last year, at the Derry Human Rights and Arts Festival, a spokesperson for the grassroots movement, ‘Save Our Sperrin’, outlined the dangers of gold mining:
Physical damage to the Sperrins’ landscape, which is a valued social amenity, tourist attraction and means of growing food, as well as a ‘waste rock’ projected to reach a height of 17 stories.
Toxic pollution from cyanide processing and a mercury smelting furnace acid rain as a result of discarded mine rock.
Arsenic, nickel, chromium and cadmium entering the food chain in dangerously high quantities.
Carbon emissions from a yearly consumption of 3.3 million litres of fossil fuels to power the goldmine’s operationsThe removal of thirty acres of peat land, which acts as a natural carbon capture source.
The Green New Deal for Europe offers solutions to destructive, extractive, industries
Extractive industries, such as mining, are too often entirely indifferent to the impact that their work has on the communities and the environments in which they are operating. This is because they are not the ones suffering its consequences.
The ones who are affected are those whose lives are rooted in the community, and in many cases, whose families have been there for generations. Businesses must be made to consider and prevent the unintended effects of their activities, or forfeit their right to do business,
One of the proposals to bring about this type of change is Green Public Works, part of the Green New Deal for Europe.
This is an investment programme that aims to decarbonise Europe’s economy, reverse biodiversity loss, guarantee decent jobs for local people, and harmonise economic aims with environmental justice so that mining projects, such as those in Ulster, are held to account and that the wellbeing of residents whose communities are most likely to be effected by these type of operations are guaranteed and prioritised above all else.
Source: DiEM 25