Tailings pond oral hearing to be heard before end of the month

The battle over the controversial extension to the Tara Mines tailings pond will be played out in public at the end of the month.

Tara Mines and local residents are gearing up to do battle at an oral hearing into planning application for the facility, and An Bord Pleanala has now indicated the hearing will begin on Tuesday 28th March in the Ardboyne Hotel.
Boliden Tara Mines has applied for planning permission for a major extension to the Tara Mines mine waste storage facility.
The proposed extension will cover an area of 58 hectares and will provide a storage volume of approximately 9.6 million cubic metres of mine tailings (13.6 million tonnes).
Last November, Meath County Council granted planning permission for a lateral extension to the existing tailings storage facility in the townland of Randalstown and the construction of an Integrated Constructed Wetlands (ICW) system in the townland of Simonstown. 
Residents Against Tailings Extension (RATE) said earlier this year that the decision to hold a hearing was a vindication of their campaign to have their many ongoing concerns in regard to the tailings facility addressed. 
The initial planning application saw 51 submissions made to Meath county Council. These included a submission from the local residents action group, other organisations and many individuals.
The local residents’ appeal against the development was submitted on 12th December with 148 signatures from the local community. 

Tara Mines recently indicated that a €44m investment would see mining at the Navan facility continue until at least 2023 and successful exploration at the zinc mine has identified new mineral resources, but the current tailings limits mining past 2020.
“Tara’s exploration work in the last few years has been successful, and the capacity of the tailings dam is now limiting the life-of-mine to 2020. 
“New exploration successes, increased productivity, and high zinc prices make extending the mine’s lifespan a profitable option, so we have decided to expand the tailings dam with a capacity until 2026,” Mikael Staffas, President Boliden Mines stated recently.