'21 trucks each hour for 9 months over 3 years along these narrow roads'

As residents close to the Tara Mines tailings pond ramp up their opposition to plans for a huge extension to the facility, a road accident last week highlighted their concerns about heavy traffic in the area.

The proposals, which will provide storage capacity for 13.6million tonnes of mine tailings, are expected to meet with fierce opposition locally.
Residents are preparing to fight the planning application for the extension, which will cover an area of 58 hectares and extend to a height of 22 metres above ground level, providing storage capacity of approximately 13.6 million tonnes of mine tailings.

The dangers and inconvenience of heavy traffic, concerns about lead and zinc residue seeping into the local water table and fears about the effects of dust blows in the area are among the concerns voiced by local people.

A newly formed group Residents Against Tailings Extension (RATE) has been formed to fight the proposals.
The mining company applied last April for planning permission for a 58 hectare lateral extension to the existing tailings storage facility at Randalstown and the construction of an Integrated Constructed Wetlands system at Simonstown.
Last month Meath County Council sought further information about the proposed development.
According to RATE spokesperson Tom Finnegan, residents are particularly concerned about traffic in the area and last week’s accident underlined their concerns.

“A truck overturned at a very dangerous bend at Silloge. People regularly walk there and if there had been somebody walking, there could have been a fatality,” he said.

Mr Finnegan warned if planning permission was granted the consequences would include up to 42 lorry journeys per hour in the area - that is 21 to the facility and 21 back. This would continue for nine months of the year, for three years.

“These will be on roads that aren’t fit for purpose and with dangerous bends.
“These are dangeorus roads overburdened with traffic and the frontages of houses along the roads will be impacted,” he said.

These figures, he said, formed part of the environmenal impact statement submitted with the planning application submitted to Meath County Council.
Mr Finnegan said their chief opposition to the plan is the fact that such a huge area of land is being used for landfill. Some of the tailings are already used for backfill at the mines, but residents believe other alternative uses could be found.

They also expressed concerns about the health implications of the tailings pond and the fact that lead and zinc residue is pumped into it.
“We are also worried about dust blows because they too contain lead and zinc,” he said.

RATE points out that the new extension would bring the tailings pond very close to the Kilberry Gibbstown Road and they ask how many more extensions will the company look for.
Residents fear that future applications could see the eventual closure of the Milestown Road.
“We are also worried about what will happen to the pond when mining is finished. Are there sufficient funds and who will be responsible and for how long,”

RATE also points out that in 1998, there was a tailings dam collapse at the Los Frailes lead-zinc mine at Aznalcóllar near Seville, Spain which released over 4 million cubic meters of tailings into a nearby river.

At a public information meeting last year, representatives of Boliden said the company spends €5 million on exploration every year and have been extending the potential life of the mine as a result - closure is now pushed to 2021 or beyond and the need for an extension is to cater for continued mining.

The meeting also heard that two sections of the existing tailings pond will be filled in the during the first half of this year, could be capped next year and would be agricultural fields in five years’ time. The remainder of the current facility will be full by 2020.
The proposed extension would be built in sections in case they eventually don’t need it all, the meeting was told.
In a statement Boliden Tara Mines said they are currently engaged in the planning process for an extension to its existing facility for tailings management.

“The application has been submitted to the local Authority and is now at the further information stage. The local authority has requested information on several aspects of the proposal including concerns raised by stakeholders including the local residents. The Company are actively engaged in providing responses to the local authority and is seeking to allay the concerns of stakeholders.”