Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Stone me.. Diamond find in Ulster?
Petition launched to block drill licence
THE Green Party has launched a petition calling on Government not to “grant mining licences by the back door”.
Karelian Diamond Resources is hoping to follow Dalradian Gold by prospecting in Northern Ireland.
But the Green’s new deputy leader Tanya Jones said such licences should not be granted without an Executive in place to scrutinise them.
She added: “One of the problems with the licences is they are not just for diamonds. That is a small fraction of the application. At the minute, with no minister, no Executive and no assessments it isn’t the right time for licences to be issued by civil servants without scrutiny. If something is done by a minister they take responsibility and questions from the Executive.” The petition, which has already gathered almost 1,000 signatures, reads: “The Department for the Economy is proposing to grant a licence to Karelian Diamond Resources to prospect for ‘diamonds and base metals’ across a huge area of Fermanagh and Tyrone.
“We have no way of knowing what the potential impacts could be to groundwater, rivers and loughs, air quality, livestock, wildlife and human health. It is therefore essential that we be given the full details now.” The Department for Economy has been contacted for comment.
A “MASSIVE diamond” referred to in two reports in the Royal Geological Society of Ireland Journal was found 200 years ago in the Colebrooke River, Brookborough, Co Fermanagh.
The stone was presented to Lady Brooke and inspected by jewellers in Dublin who confirmed it a diamond.
In 1995 the British Geological Survey said the potential for a rare gem discovery in Northern Ireland is good.