Galantas’s (LON:GAL, CVE:GAL) plans to go mining underground at its Omagh gold mine in Northern Ireland received a big boost earlier this year when serial mining investor Ross Beaty took a near-15% stake.
Permission was granted by the Department of Environment Northern Island (DOENI) in June and preparatory work begun.
Now though it looks as though the company might be about to hit a snag.
It’s been informed that the decision by DOENI may be about to be challenged in a judicial review.
The company said that it has received what purports to be “pre-action correspondence from an individual.”
If such an attempt to derail underground mining at Omagh does get underway it will put in jeopardy the very real prospect of a boost in employment in the area.
On that basis, and because of the strict environmental controls which Galantas has imposed on its operations, and which have been thoroughly scrutinised by DOENI, Galantas chief Roland Phelps is confident that if a judicial review comes, Galantas will win it.
“I expect a judicial review, if brought to the High Court in Belfast, to support the planning approval as granted,” he said.
“The individual challenging the decision raised concerns during the planning process and I note that these concerns were carefully examined by DOENI Planning Service.”