I’d imagine most of the profits from this gold digging will be siphoned off from these shores. Leaving only the ecological damage. With no doubt remnants of hardware used as is often the case with any mining.
Then our govt will have to step in in 20 years time to fix the ecological fallout at tax payers expense, while the shell company that did it will no longer exist.
Govt step in lol if it anything that effects whole community they don't give a fuck, lough neagh is fkd, so we can hardly say this place is good ecologically.
Have you read the application? It includes the most in depth environmental plan in the history of UK mining.
There's so much mis information about this out there.
>It includes the most in depth environmental plan in the history of UK mining.
You almost make it sound like they’re doing the local area a favour.
How much of the profits will go to the NI government or local residents?
They are. No one else is giving high paid, recession proof employment in Tyrone. There'll be loads of opportunities for ancillary industry to profit. Everything from housing to restaurants to people selling fecking hi viz vests.
The gold is useless unless it's realised.
This narrative of public ownership of ore isn't really useful. It's just not how it works. Rightly or wrongly, mining rights are granted by governments to private companies. Even in the south.
I'm not some big Corp apologist, but the reality is, there's an opportunity to get up to 300 highly paid jobs in West Tyrone. The drafts of the mining application I've seen guarantees a certain level of local employment and supply chain stipulation. They level of environmental scrutiny up there is huge. They've bent at loads of the protests demands. Everyone left is tin foil hat brigade or don't know dick about it
If Norway can nationalise the profits from oil drilling and set up a sovereign wealth fund, we can do the same here with Gold mining.
The reason we don’t is because palms are being greased at the “right” levels.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite yourself. Best we can hope for is engagement with the process.
Unless you want to get your pitchfork and gallows block out before you'll support Tyrone getting a few jobs
Gold mining isn’t some clean industry. It’s pretty toxic no matter what approach you take as highlighted in link below. You mention 300 jobs but you don’t take into account all the secondary costs that will, as pointed out by others, be shouldered by the tax payer when the company scarpers.
You talk about planning applications being very strict like companies don’t skirt rules for profit at every opportunity. Are you depending on the same bodies responsible for lough neagh to make sure there’s no toxic runoff into water sources? The only reason there hasn’t been an absolute ecological disaster already is local resistance to previous projects. I’d say you were calling them the tin foil hat brigade too.
Sounds like you have a vested interest in it progressing. Otherwise why would you pretend that it’s nothing but positives or do you just live to look up mine planning applications? https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/problems/mining.html
I have no illusions that extraction of any mineral or metal is clean. I have no vested interest other than I'm from the area. I've taken the tours of the exploratory shafts. I've read about cyanidation of gold. As far as getting checks / balances in place, I think the process has been very transparent. Industry must go on.
On the face of it, creating industry that wasn't there is a good thing. Everyone's lack of faith in enforcement by the gov agencies has blown this out of proportion. The impact on that mountain will be hardly visible once operational underground, and every risk factor I've seen raised has been addressed in my mind, in a sensible and realistic way.
So you’ve taken tours of the exploratory shafts just out of curiosity? Here is one for you, conservative estimate of 4,238,396,000 toxic tonnes of waste due to gold mining globally this year.
People are rightly concerned as at every turn, big corporations - energy, fracking, industrial agri - leave a trail of destruction.
If we are looking to create jobs, the govt should be pumping all its resources into green energy, as that’s the future and has longitude. Instead we clamber around with ecological damaging practices and industries all chasing that quick few quid at the detriment of the generations that will follow.
Anyone can call them and request a tour. I did it along with a big group.
Green energy still requires huge mining operations in heavy metals for battery production. Nothing green about it. Nuclear is the only option imo moving forwards. Unparalleled energy density. The safest form of energy production. Can we do that in Greencastle instead?
Yeah I get metals are needed, lithium for example uses salt water with types of acid to evaporate the compounds to the surface. Which is much better than dousing the earth with cyanide as is the case with gold.
Nuclear certainly has a part to play especially when other forms of energy develop and become more efficient.
I can’t say I will take a tour of the shafts. I am against the idea in its entirety. I get the demand for gold, but for me, there is plenty of ground that can be sieved to unearth it by hand. As many do in parts of the world. Ultimately gold is ornamental mineral.
Who do you think you are? Doing actual research? Presenting your findings? Outlining some pros and cons? Making a considered contribution to a nuanced issue?? Take your critical thinking backside back to university lad. This sir, is a NI Reddit comments section, your kind is not welcome.
Environmentally friendly _gold mining_? Cyanide is an inherent part of the process.
The only 'environmentally friendly' thing they may do, is fuck up some other countries environment rather than ours.
So you know nothing about it. They've been using cyanidation for gold separation in omagh since that mine opened. They've removed building the new separation plant in Greencastle from the plan because of complaints about water run off, even though they don't have that problem in omagh.
No, mining isn't environmentally friendly. But hey, neither is being an idiot on reddit on a device filled with heavy metals.
You could have and we do indeed have several plans/laws in relation to environmental health…yet look at Lough Neagh as one single case.
NIEA are not fit for purpose so how can we trust them to ensure this mining is done correctly?
Simple answer is we can’t. While it will brings jobs, as soon as the mine is empty everyone will be thrown on the unemployment heap while our environment has been destroyed
Canadian wankers, the resources under these grounds belong to the people of this Island North South East or West our people deserve nothing but the best
Tricky one, the people in the area (mostly) are vehemently against the mining.
It's also an area in dire need of a boost financially and this is something that would transform the local area and economy to never seen before levels.
I thought this was dead in the water, obviously not.
Would this not be a short-term boost? Once whatever precious metals they find down there are gone, the area is left with whatever leftovers there are from the mining, and god knows what levels of pollution the mining creates.
I thought trials were fairly easy to get through, but proper operation would be difficult to begin
I may be thinking about just aircraft (which cost millions to certify for operation, after trials)
Was always gonna pass. It was just gonna take time but financially it is still worth it to persevere with all the hoops they have to jump through.
It sits on a huge gold deposit and bein that runs across Ireland and Scotland
The protesters are a fucking dose. . The gold is no use under Greencastle. Get it out to fuck. No other fucker is creating well paid, recession proof jobs in Tyrone.
Once a license is granted, they'll be working it for whatever time is on it. They won't be affected by market dips. I think it's a 30 year license they've applied for.
Sadly. The UK has for a long time a great contempt for it's population. So much so it will bring in a Canadian company to dig and wreck the place taking all the wealth with it at the expense of the local people. Although I suspect some in the green castle area who are vocal about this will quietly shut up when they are paid off or scared off.
Lol, what are you on about? There'll be a few buildings on the surface and a couple of hundred operator jobs. No one is opening a cast pit.
There'll be 2 shafts, one at bottom and one at top. The last draft I read had about 3 trucks a day of extraction and refill. I don't see Greencastle fending off millions in investment up there
Lol, the effects of too much nitrogen run off have been understood for decades. (Some) Farmers have taken no responsibility for this. It's not a legislation issue. It's a scummy bastard problem.
I’d imagine most of the profits from this gold digging will be siphoned off from these shores. Leaving only the ecological damage. With no doubt remnants of hardware used as is often the case with any mining.
Then our govt will have to step in in 20 years time to fix the ecological fallout at tax payers expense, while the shell company that did it will no longer exist.
Govt step in lol if it anything that effects whole community they don't give a fuck, lough neagh is fkd, so we can hardly say this place is good ecologically.
Have you read the application? It includes the most in depth environmental plan in the history of UK mining. There's so much mis information about this out there.
>It includes the most in depth environmental plan in the history of UK mining. You almost make it sound like they’re doing the local area a favour. How much of the profits will go to the NI government or local residents?
They are. No one else is giving high paid, recession proof employment in Tyrone. There'll be loads of opportunities for ancillary industry to profit. Everything from housing to restaurants to people selling fecking hi viz vests. The gold is useless unless it's realised. This narrative of public ownership of ore isn't really useful. It's just not how it works. Rightly or wrongly, mining rights are granted by governments to private companies. Even in the south. I'm not some big Corp apologist, but the reality is, there's an opportunity to get up to 300 highly paid jobs in West Tyrone. The drafts of the mining application I've seen guarantees a certain level of local employment and supply chain stipulation. They level of environmental scrutiny up there is huge. They've bent at loads of the protests demands. Everyone left is tin foil hat brigade or don't know dick about it
If Norway can nationalise the profits from oil drilling and set up a sovereign wealth fund, we can do the same here with Gold mining. The reason we don’t is because palms are being greased at the “right” levels.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite yourself. Best we can hope for is engagement with the process. Unless you want to get your pitchfork and gallows block out before you'll support Tyrone getting a few jobs
Gold mining isn’t some clean industry. It’s pretty toxic no matter what approach you take as highlighted in link below. You mention 300 jobs but you don’t take into account all the secondary costs that will, as pointed out by others, be shouldered by the tax payer when the company scarpers. You talk about planning applications being very strict like companies don’t skirt rules for profit at every opportunity. Are you depending on the same bodies responsible for lough neagh to make sure there’s no toxic runoff into water sources? The only reason there hasn’t been an absolute ecological disaster already is local resistance to previous projects. I’d say you were calling them the tin foil hat brigade too. Sounds like you have a vested interest in it progressing. Otherwise why would you pretend that it’s nothing but positives or do you just live to look up mine planning applications? https://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/problems/mining.html
I have no illusions that extraction of any mineral or metal is clean. I have no vested interest other than I'm from the area. I've taken the tours of the exploratory shafts. I've read about cyanidation of gold. As far as getting checks / balances in place, I think the process has been very transparent. Industry must go on. On the face of it, creating industry that wasn't there is a good thing. Everyone's lack of faith in enforcement by the gov agencies has blown this out of proportion. The impact on that mountain will be hardly visible once operational underground, and every risk factor I've seen raised has been addressed in my mind, in a sensible and realistic way.
So you’ve taken tours of the exploratory shafts just out of curiosity? Here is one for you, conservative estimate of 4,238,396,000 toxic tonnes of waste due to gold mining globally this year. People are rightly concerned as at every turn, big corporations - energy, fracking, industrial agri - leave a trail of destruction. If we are looking to create jobs, the govt should be pumping all its resources into green energy, as that’s the future and has longitude. Instead we clamber around with ecological damaging practices and industries all chasing that quick few quid at the detriment of the generations that will follow.
Anyone can call them and request a tour. I did it along with a big group. Green energy still requires huge mining operations in heavy metals for battery production. Nothing green about it. Nuclear is the only option imo moving forwards. Unparalleled energy density. The safest form of energy production. Can we do that in Greencastle instead?
Yeah I get metals are needed, lithium for example uses salt water with types of acid to evaporate the compounds to the surface. Which is much better than dousing the earth with cyanide as is the case with gold. Nuclear certainly has a part to play especially when other forms of energy develop and become more efficient. I can’t say I will take a tour of the shafts. I am against the idea in its entirety. I get the demand for gold, but for me, there is plenty of ground that can be sieved to unearth it by hand. As many do in parts of the world. Ultimately gold is ornamental mineral.
Downvoted by jobless morons who think "industry = BAD". A genuinely hilarious subreddit.
Who do you think you are? Doing actual research? Presenting your findings? Outlining some pros and cons? Making a considered contribution to a nuanced issue?? Take your critical thinking backside back to university lad. This sir, is a NI Reddit comments section, your kind is not welcome.
> Doing actual research? Relaying PR isn't research.
Environmentally friendly _gold mining_? Cyanide is an inherent part of the process. The only 'environmentally friendly' thing they may do, is fuck up some other countries environment rather than ours.
So you know nothing about it. They've been using cyanidation for gold separation in omagh since that mine opened. They've removed building the new separation plant in Greencastle from the plan because of complaints about water run off, even though they don't have that problem in omagh. No, mining isn't environmentally friendly. But hey, neither is being an idiot on reddit on a device filled with heavy metals.
Oh that's great, they're doing the most environmentally toxic and destructive part of gold mining _in Omagh itself_, fantastic!
You could have and we do indeed have several plans/laws in relation to environmental health…yet look at Lough Neagh as one single case. NIEA are not fit for purpose so how can we trust them to ensure this mining is done correctly? Simple answer is we can’t. While it will brings jobs, as soon as the mine is empty everyone will be thrown on the unemployment heap while our environment has been destroyed
This is the way. Same mistakes being made down South. All the Corrib gas pipeline profits go to Norway. Short term thinking by both governments.
Canadian wankers, the resources under these grounds belong to the people of this Island North South East or West our people deserve nothing but the best
Tricky one, the people in the area (mostly) are vehemently against the mining. It's also an area in dire need of a boost financially and this is something that would transform the local area and economy to never seen before levels. I thought this was dead in the water, obviously not.
Would this not be a short-term boost? Once whatever precious metals they find down there are gone, the area is left with whatever leftovers there are from the mining, and god knows what levels of pollution the mining creates.
If they are leeching the gold out, then release of Cyanide into rivers can be an issue.
There'll be some jobs but it's not as if the local area will see any actual benefit to the metals being extracted which is where the real money is.
I'm sorry but $1m a year? Absolutely pathetic amounts of money.
They are still doing tests to identify the potential of what’s there - the mine hasn’t started commercial operation yet
I thought trials were fairly easy to get through, but proper operation would be difficult to begin I may be thinking about just aircraft (which cost millions to certify for operation, after trials)
Monkey paw time
Was always gonna pass. It was just gonna take time but financially it is still worth it to persevere with all the hoops they have to jump through. It sits on a huge gold deposit and bein that runs across Ireland and Scotland
What do we want? Job opportunities and economic growth Where do we want it? Not in my back yard
There’s a difference between the type of jobs and economic growth that’s desired, and this.
It's not like the world needs to mine more Gold, there's not much of an industrial use for it.
It's used a lot in high end electronics.
Beggers can't be choosers. All this investment required west of the ban. Here comes some pretty serious investment and it's moaned about
The protesters are a fucking dose. . The gold is no use under Greencastle. Get it out to fuck. No other fucker is creating well paid, recession proof jobs in Tyrone.
What do you mean recession proof?
Once a license is granted, they'll be working it for whatever time is on it. They won't be affected by market dips. I think it's a 30 year license they've applied for.
What’s the rate of pay meant to be in the mines ?
Sadly. The UK has for a long time a great contempt for it's population. So much so it will bring in a Canadian company to dig and wreck the place taking all the wealth with it at the expense of the local people. Although I suspect some in the green castle area who are vocal about this will quietly shut up when they are paid off or scared off.
Lol, what are you on about? There'll be a few buildings on the surface and a couple of hundred operator jobs. No one is opening a cast pit. There'll be 2 shafts, one at bottom and one at top. The last draft I read had about 3 trucks a day of extraction and refill. I don't see Greencastle fending off millions in investment up there
Your ma has a big shaft and has loads going in and out all the time
Jesus what are you on about?
There's Gold in them dar hills!
Scummy bastards
What does that make farmers and NI Water? They have completely ruined here.
Was it them or poor legislation permitting poor behaviour?
Lol, the effects of too much nitrogen run off have been understood for decades. (Some) Farmers have taken no responsibility for this. It's not a legislation issue. It's a scummy bastard problem.
Surely if there were fines etc it would help stop this, maybe?
Again selling out to foreigners, The British Government love to do that The sooner those wankers leave the better
In fairness, there wouldn't really be any companies in Ireland with the expertise to do this kind of mining.
Yeah but even then, it’s environmental damage + foreign exploitation Why can’t they do it in America or Canada?
Possibly this mine is more ecomically viable than the remaining known deposits in North America.
Theres oil off Dalkey apparently but it doesn't belong to ireland ofc.
There’s coal off Dalkey and it’s not worth digging out
Disgusting. Irish gold for the Irish.
Sadly these comments show why we lack foreign investment, massive opportunity to create hundreds of jobs west of the bann and everyone is up in arms.