US lawmakers are pressing Northern Ireland to approve an American-owned gold mine potentially worth billions of pounds to the local economy, warning that delays to the project risk driving away foreign capital.
Four congressmen and the British ambassador in Washington Lord Peter Mandelson have written to local authorities to express frustration at eight years of setbacks to the US-backed Curraghinalt mine, the largest known gold deposit in the UK and Ireland.
The letter from the congressmen to Northern Ireland’s executive office, seen by the Financial Times, urged the authorities to reach “a reasonably timely final decision” to reassure investors that the region really is open to business.
With bullion at record highs, the County Tyrone project claims to have gold resources worth £20bn at current prices. Not all will be recoverable, but its owner Dalradian predicts the mine could give a £7bn boost to the economy, create 1,000 jobs and pay £2.5bn in tax to the UK.
But 400 weeks into a planning process that was supposed to take 30 weeks, it is still not clear whether the project — which Dalradian says could be Northern Ireland’s largest foreign investment — will be approved.
“It feels like we’ve been abandoned,” Patrick Anderson, Dalradian’s Canadian chief executive said, calling it a “disappointing experience for a country that had so actively gone out seeking investment”.
Set in the Sperrin Mountains, designated an area of outstanding natural beauty with lush green fields dotted with sheep, the project has attracted more than 50,000 local objections over environmental fears.
Across the Atlantic, US concern has centred on the impact to the business environment, as US demand for critical minerals intensifies. Dalradian is owned by Orion Resource Partners, a US fund.
As co-chairs of the Friends of Ireland and the Critical Minerals Caucuses, Republican lawmakers Guy Reschenthaler and Mike Kelly, together with Democrats Richard Neal and Eric Swalwell, wrote to the Northern Irish executive last November, saying they were “concerned” that “yet again” reviews of the project had been extended.
Dalradian initially presented a planning application in 2017. A public inquiry — the final stage in the process before a decision by the Infrastructure department — began in January this year. But hopes of a swift decision were scotched. The inquiry was suspended on the third day because of insufficient consultation on the cross-border impact on a nearby river. It remains on hold.
“We believe that a fair and timely adjudication of the merits of this project would send the message to investors worldwide that NI is truly a place they should feel confident doing business,” the US lawmakers said.
In March, Neal and Kelly urged President Donald Trump to appoint an envoy amid concern over US investments in the region.
In separate letter sent to the head of Northern Ireland’s civil service that month, Mandelson outlined growing frustration in Washington over the project, people familiar with it said.
Dalradian’s application seeks permission to mine 3.5mn oz of high-grade gold, plus significant silver, copper and critical minerals including tellurium used in solar power cells. Northern Ireland is one of the UK’s poorest regions.
But Fidelma O’Kane of Save our Sperrins, one of several opposition groups, said local residents would not be bought with the prospect of mining riches.
“Our fresh air, clean water and landscape are priceless,” the retired social worker and lecturer said. “We are determined [to fight] . . . for our children, our grandchildren and future generations”.
Shuttered behind a green metal gate, the mine is ankle-deep in water in some parts. Blue marks across the grey-brown rocks trace some of the 21 veins — some labelled with their name, width and gold content.
Orion, which has $8.2bn assets under management including from large US pension funds, has invested some $400mn since buying Dalradian in 2018 and plans to invest another $350mn to start production.
The company calls Curraghinalt, which was first explored in the 1980s, an “unusually rich deposit averaging 13.5g of gold per tonne of rock, more than five times the global average for gold mines”.
That “is certainly a high-grade deposit in terms of other gold deposits around the world,” said Gavin Mudd, director of the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre at the British Geological Survey.
Dalradian has conducted extensive drilling since taking over the project in 2009 and has identified 6.1mn ounces of “phenomenal” gold resources.
The DfI confirmed it had received Mandelson’s letter and would “work at pace to reach a decision . . . as soon as possible.” Swalwell declined to comment. Kelly, Neal, Reschenthaler and the British Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. Mandelson declined to comment.
Northern Ireland’s Executive Office said an official decision would be made on the project as soon as possible, pending the planning inquiry.
Anderson thought his parents’ native Northern Ireland, where they had worked in the Harland & Wolff shipyard, would be easier to do business in than some parts of South America where he has worked. “I was naive . . . this is the most laborious [planning process] I’ve ever seen.”
Additional reporting by Jim Pickard
