A plan to cover a massive toxic mining waste dump with a mixture of compost and soil has been rejected by farmers and North Tipperary County Council.
The Department of Marine and Natural Resources has requested more details from the mining company, Mogul of Ireland, on its proposals to rehabilitate its 150- acre tailings pond at Gortmore, near Silvermines, Co Tipperary.
Dust from the site, used for dumping millions of tonnes of toxic tailings from Mogul's lead and zinc-mining operations, which ceased production in Silvermines in 1982, has been blowing on to surrounding lands for 20 years. Several livestock have died from lead poisoning in the intervening period and there are fears of human health problems.
The tailings pond is just one of a number of old local mining sites highly contaminated with heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, zinc, copper and thallium.
Mogul's proposal to cover the site with a one-metre layer of compost and soil to stop the dust blows was presented to the Department last Friday. The Department, which rejected a previous plan to top the site with sewage sludge, is now seeking more details from the company.
The Gortmore Environmental Action Group, which represents landowners and residents, says the company's proposal is "unsafe, unworkable and falling far short of what is required to be a sustainable and satisfactory remedial plan".
Group chairman Mr Michael Leamy said Mogul would be let "off the hook" if the Department agreed to this plan. Time was running for the Department to force the company to do the works under the terms of its mining lease, which expires on November 31st.
North Tipperary Labour senator Ms Kathleen O'Meara said it was no more than a money-making operation as Mogul was going to charge a waste-disposal company to deposit compost on site.
Tipperary County Council in a letter to the Department said the plan to cover the bare areas of the site with a layer of a compost/soil mix of a 10-to-1 ratio did not appear to have any scientific basis.
The proposal had "more to do with finding an outlet for large quantities of class 3 compost, which can only be used as landfill cover or incinerated, than for finding an effective method of promoting growth and providing grass" on the site.
The Environment Protection Agency has told the Department that it "still remains concerned about the likelihood that these proposals will deliver the long-term sustainable solution that is required at the relevant sites in the Silvermines".
Mogul spokesman Mr Christian Schaffalitzky said this rehabilitation plan was "totally adequate". He rejected the council's claim that the compost was unsuitable, saying the company was working on expert advice.