Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy James Lawless for his amendment. He raised the issue on Second and Committee Stages. Under existing minerals legislation, State mining leases require the lessee to work minerals fully under the lease terms. It should be said the modern mines at Navan, Lisheen and Galmoy are better equipped to extract the full mineral potential of the mine material than older mine sites. There is some industry interest in reworking mine waste on legacy mine sites. However, this is at an early stage and will be driven by the economic potential.

In 2015 the Geological Survey of Ireland commissioned a short call project, an economic assessment of Irish mining waste, to be undertaken by Aurum Exploration Services. The project aimed to analyse samples from mine waste sites throughout Ireland. Of the nine sites sampled, Avoca returned the most positive results. The study recommended further analysis of waste dumps at Avoca. Unfortunately, the majority of historical mine sites sampled were reported to have no economic value. The provisions of the Bill facilitate the potential reuse of abandoned mines and associated waste. The definition of minerals in section 2 of the Bill includes all substances, including scheduled minerals that occur naturally in or on land or that occur in extracted waste.

Deputy James Lawless' amendment identifies an omission in the Bill, as published, on the important role of the Minister in promoting sectoral research and innovation. While the Department has commissioned research such as the Aurum report and facilitated research activities such as iCRAG on an administrative basis, it is important that this role be formalised in the Bill.

The amendment also identifies two new focuses for research - research into recycling, reusing or reclaiming extracted waste where this is environmentally sound, thus supporting the concept of the circular economy, and research that may create opportunities where the reuse of mine waste could contribute to the rehabilitation of a legacy mine site.

I note the Deputy's concerns that communities in areas where there is legacy mining may wish to express their views on potential research in this area and he has provided a mechanism for same. I commend him for his work on the issue and propose to accept the amendment.

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