DEVELOPMENT of the proposed lead zinc mine at Lisheen, Co Tipperary, appeared to be stalled again last night, despite the passing of a deadline for a decision by An Bord Pleanala. All the interested parties will receive letters from the planning board on Monday containing what is thought to be a request for a further delay in granting or refusing permission for the project.
Last August, Tipperary County Council approved the £120 million development by Ivernia West and Minorco.
Local people made four separate objections to An Bord Pleanala, all based on environmental grounds, which the board said would be considered by yesterday.
An Bord Pleanala said yesterday it had posted letters to all of the interested parties, but could not reveal the contents before the recipients could reasonably be expected to have read them, on Monday morning.
Industry sources said the letters did not contain a decision, but instead a request for another period - thought to be about four months - to make up its mind.
Ivernia said last night it had heard nothing from An Bord Pleanala and would not speculate about the possibility of a further delay in the decision.
Dr Graham Rees, Minorco's managing director, also said he had not received a letter from the board. At any rate, he added, Minorco would not be ready to begin the physical construction of the mine until February or the start of March and, even if there were a delay, the company would still hope for a decision by that point.
"Any delay beyond those sort of dates will cost us money," he added.
Industry sources said last night that the delay was also unlikely to faze Ivernia. "They are anxious to get going, but realistically, they would have expected that," one said.
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