The war over Omagh’s gold: the £21bn mine plan tearing a community apart

• 01Dalradian Gold, a US-owned mining company, submitted a planning application nine years ago to extract 3.5 million ounces of gold over 20 to 25 years from a site called Curraghinalt near Greencastle in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
• 02Gold reserves at the Curraghinalt site are worth at least £21 billion at current prices, with ore carrying between 200g and 300g of gold per tonne, and the company estimates annual extraction value at almost £500 million at today's prices.
• 03Dalradian says it has spent more than £250 million on the project and claims the mine will create 1,000 jobs, contribute approximately £3 billion in taxes, support a £1 billion supply chain, and generate £9 billion in gross value add for the economy.
• 04Dalradian states the mine will be carbon neutral and will use electric and biofuel-powered vehicles where possible, with carbon offsetting, and says it carries out independently verified monitoring of local rivers.
• 05More than 50,000 letters of objection have been submitted to the planning process by opponents, while pro-mine supporters argue those letters contain more signatories than the total population of Omagh and claim some people had protest letters submitted without their knowledge.
• 06A public inquiry into the planning application will reopen on 13 April in Omagh, overseen by Northern Ireland's Planning Appeals Commission, with commissioners to make recommendations to Stormont assembly ministers, who will make the final decision.
• 07Local opponents, including Fidelma O'Kane and her husband Cormac McAleer, have organized through groups like Save our Sperrins and have crowdfunded to hire experts, including a Utah-based geophysicist, to give evidence opposing the mine.

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A public inquiry reopened Monday into a nine-year-old planning application by US mining company Dalradian Gold to extract gold from the Sperrins in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Dalradian estimates the site contains £21 billion in gold reserves and projects the mine would create 1,000 jobs and contribute £3 billion in taxes, while claiming it will be carbon neutral; opponents argue it risks environmental damage and has submitted over 50,000 objection letters. Northern Ireland's Planning Appeals Commission will hear evidence through early June before making recommendations to Stormont ministers, who will make the final decision.