To: [email protected]
From:
23 June 2016
, Head of Minerals and Petroleum Branch
MINERAL EXPLORATION
CALL FOR EVIDENCE: PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS FOR MINERAL
EXPLORATION – RESPONSE FROM THE DEPARTMENT FOR THE ECONOMY
(DfE)
While the statement by the former Minister Durkan refers to “oil and gas exploration”
the call for evidence would appear to apply to all Mineral exploration in NI and DfE’s
response below has been informed accordingly.
The Department for the Economy (DfE) agrees with DfI’s wish “to facilitate sustainable
minerals development through balancing the need for specific minerals development
proposals against the need to safeguard the environment”.
DfE considers that a clear distinction must be made between oil and gas exploration
and mineral exploration - the review of the permitted development rights can only be
adequately addressed if a distinction is made between the different types of natural
resources which are all included under the term ”mineral” in the planning legislation .
Oil and Gas Exploration
To date it has been advantageous for the Northern Ireland economy that oil and gas
exploration has been allowed under permitted development. This has enabled
companies to undertake exploration in a timely manner, with some consequent
reductions of cost. Such drilling has been regulated under a range of other planning,
petroleum, environmental and health and safety legislation, which has ensured that
the operations have been carried out to the high industry standards that have been
developed over many decades of oil and gas exploration in the UK However, NI is
out of step with the rest of the United Kingdom where the drilling of petroleum
exploration boreholes is specifically excluded from permitted development rights. DfE
would therefore support an updating of the Planning (General Permitted Development)
Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 (GPDO) in relation to the drilling of oil and gas
exploration boreholes, to bring the NI position into line with all other parts of the
United Kingdom. DfE believes that this would bring clarity to the situation whereby
some oil and gas exploration wells in Northern Ireland have been drilled under PDR
and others have been the subject of planning applications. The increased public
consultation and participation that are integral to the planning process would be a
welcome outcome from this proposed change with respect to oil and gas exploration.
However DfE would propose that the drilling of boreholes for ground water monitoring
for petroleum exploration should be allowed as permitted development. This
monitoring would enable information on the ground water environment to be provided
early and would contribute towards informing the consideration of proposals for the
exploratory phase of petroleum exploration (including the drilling of petroleum wells),
which would be subject to the full rigours of the planning process. It should be noted
that the drilling of groundwater monitoring boreholes for any other purpose
would be defined as permitted development. Likewise, the carrying out of seismic
surveys, and the drilling of boreholes for seismic monitoring purposes, should be
specifically included as permitted development. Again, this reflects the position in the
rest of the UK, which was agreed following consultation in August 2015.
Minerals Exploration
DfE opposes a change to the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order
(Northern Ireland) 2015 (GPDO) in relation to minerals exploration as DfE considers
that the existing provisions on permitted development rights for mineral exploration
provide a suitable balance between supporting operational business activity and
environmental protection.
In DfE’s opinion a change requiring planning permission for mineral exploration
boreholes could act as an unnecessary deterrent to the exploration of NI’s natural
resources and potentially impede or halt the creation of jobs and wealth in the
minerals sector. The quarry sector is already a major employer in Northern Ireland and
the minerals sector has the potential to provide a significant boost to the economy in
Northern Ireland in the future. By way of example of this potential, DfE cites the 2013
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report commissioned by the Department of Communications Energy & Natural
Resources, ROI which found that the mining industry in Ireland contributed €426
million in sales output, supported 1373 direct FTE and 1933 indirect FTE jobs, and
provided €107.3 million in wages and an overall income impact of an estimated €341
million to the economy in 2012, mostly from five major mines. Whilst Northern Ireland
does not yet have a mining industry on this scale, it does have many similarities with
the rest of the island in terms of its geology – and there is, therefore, significant
potential for major mineral deposits to be discovered here as a result of mineral
exploration carried out effectively and to the highest standards.
Drilling for minerals is on a much smaller scale than that carried out for oil and gas
exploration and has only a short, temporary, impact on the ground. The methods used
are different to those used in oil and gas exploration drilling and this is explained
below, to illustrate why there should be a distinction between the two sectors in terms
of the application of permitted development rights.
Mineral exploration begins with non invasive techniques designed to identify areas
where there are anomalously high values of the target mineral. In order to establish
whether there is an economic deposit of the material, exploration companies need to
analyse rock samples. The preferred way to obtain samples from depth is to collect
rock core using a diamond drill. Diamond drilling speed will vary with rock type and
depth, but typically in Northern Ireland it takes one hour to collect 3 to 4 metres of rock
core and boreholes may be drilled down to depths of about 500 metres. One borehole
can normally be completed in one to two weeks, well within the current permitted
development time frame. Drilling operations for most minerals can be restricted to
daylight hours, unlike oil and gas exploration drilling which requires 24/7 operation
because of the large rigs and drilling techniques used.
Drill rigs used for diamond drilling have a small footprint, although to protect
equipment and livestock a perimeter fence may be used which increases this area.
The fenced-off site is considerably smaller than that required for oil and gas
exploration wellsites which are often almost a hectare in area. The drilling rigs used
are typically much smaller than those used for oil and gas exploration and can often
be towed into position by a 4x4 vehicle. The disturbance to the ground surface caused
by drill rigs is comparable to that from farm machinery, although additional
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environmental restrictions and protection are applied to the minerals drilling
operations. Noise can be mitigated with noise baffles where required; and engine
emissions tend to be minor. Water used to lubricate the drill bit can be re-circulated
using a closed drill fluid management system, so that no waste fluids should be
discharged to the environment. Where additives are used to provide additional
lubrication, mineral exploration companies use environmentally certified products to
prevent unwanted environmental impact should there be any accidental escape of the
drilling fluids. Unlike oil and gas, exploration for minerals requires the drilling of a
relatively large number of slim cored boreholes to identify and quantify the mineral
deposits. The details of the methodology, equipment and drilling contractors can all be
provided to the planning authorities as part of the PDR notification and additional
information as in support of other permitting applications and notifications which allow
the various regulatory authorities (NI planning, councils, DfE, NIEA, HSENI) to assess
the proposed activities against a range of criteria. However, the exact locations of all
the boreholes to be drilled in a season’s drilling programme is not known at the outset
because the results from the initial holes will often determine where subsequent holes
should be drilled. This means that a requirement to obtain planning permission for
individual boreholes would not be a practical proposition for the purposes of mineral
exploration because it would add significant delays, and expense, to any exploration
programme without bringing any noticeable improvement to the regulation of the
drilling operations.
The current PDR for minerals should also apply to the drilling of boreholes to
determine the extent and quality of reserves of common materials such as rock
aggregates or sand and gravel. These boreholes tend to be shallow – a few tens of
metres – and, again, a requirement to obtain planning permission would be
unnecessarily onerous.
The requirement to obtain planning permission for individual mineral boreholes could
lead to an unnecessarily expensive and lengthy administrative process impacting on
the viability and attractiveness of the exploration for minerals in Northern Ireland. DfE
consider that the existing planning, minerals, environmental and health and safety
legislation provide adequate and appropriate regulation for mineral exploration drilling
without the need to obtain planning permission. Including mineral exploration within
the PDR framework does not remove the requirement to obtain planning permission
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for any mineral or mining development as the Call for Evidence clearly states “it
should not be presumed that successful future exploration will guarantee planning
permission to exploit any proven reserves.”
The rights contained within the GPDO have been carefully written to ensure that while
they allow for minerals exploration to ascertain the presence and the extent or quality
of any deposit of a mineral with a view to exploiting that mineral, they also include
certain limitations, conditions and safeguards. Projects applying for permitted
development are currently screened by the DfI/ Local Councils and their various
consultees for potential environmental impacts and will not be granted permitted
development rights if significant potential environmental impacts cannot be excluded.
Any drilling deemed to be an EIA development would be subject to a full planning
determination and an Environmental Impact Assessment.
Mineral exploration activities exempted from planning permission are still subject to
regulation by various bodies including the Department for the Economy, the Northern
Ireland Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland.
DfE believe that the current permitted development rights as they apply to mineral
exploration are appropriate. They permit exploration companies to carry out short
term, low impact activity without the requirement for full planning permission. As
highlighted, environmental protection for drilling is encompassed by the licensing
regime under which exploration drilling is carried out. Where required, drilling can be
restricted, conditioned or refused.
DfE POSITION
In summary, DfE supports a change to the Planning (General Permitted
Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 (GPDO), to exclude the drilling of
boreholes for oil and gas exploration (with the exception of the drilling of boreholes for
ground water or seismic monitoring for petroleum exploration, and the carrying out of
seismic surveys), but opposes any change with respect to mineral exploration.
DfE further recommends that consideration be given to a modification of the term
‘mineral’ as it is applied in the planning legislation – DfE considers the current
definition to be too vague and broad.
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