Polemic around Canadian firm’s gold project in Ireland heats up

Canada’s Dalradian Resources (TSX:DNA) (LON:DALR), which has been working on its proposed gold project in Tyrone, North Ireland, since early 2010, is having a rough time with locals involved in consultations these days, with dozens walking out of a meeting Monday.

Final environmental impact assessment has yet to be completed and Dalradian has said the planning application will just be submitted next year.

Residents oppose to the firm’s plans to build a processing plant at its Curraghinalt project, which will use cyanide to extract gold, The Irish News reports.

But details for the project, which would employ about 500 people during construction of the mine and plant, are not set in stone.

The final environmental impact assessment has yet to be completed and Dalradian has said the planning application for the project will just be submitted next year.

The Toronto-based miner has the mineral rights to more than 80,000 hectares in Northern Ireland. This includes the company’s flagship Curraghinalt gold project outside Gortin, identified as one of the top ten undeveloped gold deposits by grade in the world.

Since work in the area began in 2010, Dalradian has grown the total resources more than seven-fold to 2.3 million inferred ounces of golden 2.1 million ounces of measured and indicated resources.

The firm says Northern Ireland has the seventh richest undeveloped seam of gold in the world, but political violence kept most investors away for about three decades.

Polemic around Canadian firm’s gold project in Ireland heats up

Project location. (Courtesy of Dalradian Resources)

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