Public representatives and local campaigners opposed to goldmining operations have reacted with anger to a pollution incident at the Creevan Burn close, near Omagh. The incident was caused by leakage from one of the settlement tanks at the Cavancaw Gold Mine, and a sample of a clearly visible milky discharge from the stream was reported to the local council's environmental health department. They were then informed that a pump failure at the mine site had caused the overflow and were assured that the matter had been rectified.
Councillor Pat McDonnell said the incident vindicates those who opposed the mining work being carried out in the first place. He went on to say, "This open-cast goldmining operation was granted planning permission in the face of very strong local opposition in 1995. The Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (DoE NI) at the time chose to over-rule the well researched objections from the various lobby groups. In fact, open-cast goldmining has a dreadful reputation worldwide and the reported incident merely confirms the fears expressed at the time."
A statement from the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) confirmed that the discharge came from the Cavanacaw Gold Mine. The company have a system in place where they pump surface water from the mining area to a settlement pond before discharge to the Creevan Burn. The pump normally used broke, and a replacement pump was sourced with four times the flow of the original. As a result of the increased flow, the water did not have enough time to settle in the pond and was discharging cloudy. Measures were taken to minimise pollution and the pump was stopped as soon as the problem became apparent.
