New tests at tailings pond

A new series of tests has been carried out at the former tailings pond site at Gortmore, Silvermines, amid local concern that contamination could be spreading to a wider area.

Overseen by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, the site investigation works at the tailings management facility (TMF) were due to conclude at the end of last month. The results are to be used in a new action plan for the site, a move guardedly welcomed this week by one local farmer, who said the community has been forgotten about following decades of concern over toxic contamination from the former mining site.

In reply to a parliamentary question from local TD Ryan O’Meara, Minister Darragh O'Brien confirmed that his department was undertaking work “to assess the stability at Gortmore TMF, to understand hazards at the site and to reduce risks accordingly”.

Deputy O’Meara was told that the investigation works, which started on June 15 last, consisted of surveying, drilling boreholes, geotechnical tests on the ground and collecting samples for analysis.

“After the site investigation, the results will be used to carry out computer-based stability modelling on the tailings management facility,” Minister O’Brien replied. “In early 2027, stability modelling results will inform an action plan to mitigate any identified risks.

“The site investigation work is being carried out on behalf of my department by MKO environmental consultants. The profiled cost for the current works at Gortmore TMF is € 274,905. The stability modelling work is subject to a procurement process and is expected to be awarded to a service provider in autumn 2026.”

‘OUR AUGHINISH ALUMINA’

There have been several incidents over the years of livestock dying from lead poisoning in the Gortmore area. The Department of Agriculture has said it is satisfied that there is no risk to human health, but the local community has remained concerned about the presence of toxic chemicals associated with mining activity in the area, which ceased in the 1980s. Decades of campaigning resulted in the State taking on responsibility for remedial works in 2005, but concerns have persisted in recent years over the level of protection achievable on land in private ownership.

Silvermines farmer Maurice Leamy said the issue may no longer be attracting headlines but remains a real concern for the local community.

“It was never solved and it needs to be solved. It’s our Aughinish alumina,” he said in reference to the discovery of high levels of arsenic in groundwater beneath the Limerick site. “It’s no different with the tailings pond.”

Mr Leamy was particularly concerned about harmful chemicals including lead, zinc and arsenic seeping from the tailings pond site into the Kilmastulla River. This he said could have far-reaching implications, not just for the Nenagh hinterland but for the Eastern and Midlands regions if flood waters brought contamination to Parteen, site of Uisce Éireann’s proposed water abstraction plan.

The local farmer said there is a high prevalence of cancer in the area and that people have long associated this with the tailings pond. While he welcomed the investigation works this summer, Mr Leamy doubted that they would lead to resolution of the situation to the satisfaction of the local community.

“There’ll be millions spent on consultations and nothing done,” he said. “It’s going on too long now. It’s been left like that since the ‘70s and ‘80s. When the dust stopped blowing, they thought it was all over, but it’s not all over.”