Mining in Clare threatens air, water, biodiversity and livelihoods across the mid-west

The Department of the Environment announced its intention to grant a licence to Navan, Co. Meath based Minco Ireland Ltd. to prospect for base metals, baryte, gold and silver ores in Tulla Upper Barony and Bunratty Upper Barony. This announcement was made on December 9th 2021 with the closing date for any objections to the granting of the licence required to be submitted by January 8th 2022.

A petition by local environmental group Futureproof Clare launched on Thursday January 6th has received more than 1,500 signatures from people who are opposed to the granting of this licence.

People Before Profit spokesperson Ruairí Fahy said:

“The announcement by the department over the Christmas period and during a huge spike in Covid cases has resulted in there being no public discussion on the granting of this licence and has left people without a chance to have their voices heard on the issue.

“When the result of this licence could be a move toward large scale industrial mining the voices of people who will suffer as a result can’t be ignored.

“Gold mining is one of the most environmentally harmful mining and extraction processes that when combined with the porous limestone around Clare is a recipe for disaster where chemical leakages could end up anywhere from the Burren Atlantic coast to the River Shannon threatening biodiversity across the whole region.

“We’re going to undoubtedly hear about how many jobs a mining operation would supposedly bring while shipping all profits out of the region but we will never hear of the jobs and livelihoods that are at risk from a mining operation here from farmers to fishers to people in the tourism industry.

“We, in People Before Profit, have filed an objection to this prospecting licence and hopefully Eamon Ryan will listen to the voices of local people when they say no to all forms of climate damaging industries in their areas.”