Sperrins gold mining andfarming under spotlight
Gold mining in the Sperrins and large scale pig farming and their potential impact on the environment of the North West will be the focus of a debate entitled '˜Fools Gold' in the City Hotel at 7.30 p.m. this evening.
Fidelma O’Kane, of Save Our Sperrins, and James Orr, Director of Friends of the Earth NI, will be among the panel speakers at the event, which has been organised by the Bloody Sunday March for Justice Committee.
Ms. O’Kane who has campaigned against a planning application for a cyanide based ore-processing plant in the Sperrins, which has been lodged by Dalradian Gold NI, will raise local concerns “regarding the rigour of the Environmental Impact Assessment carried out...given the risk cyanide poses to local land and rivers as well as the threat of air pollution from blasting and mine activity 24/7 for 25 years”.
James Orr, Director, of Friends Of the Earth NI, will address concerns over the planned rapid development of industrial scale farming across the North and the political context that facilitates it.
The event will be chaired by Judi Logue of Zero Waste North West.