A HEXHAM man is leading a campaign to prevent Tynedale‘s rich mineral deposits from being exploited by high-tech mining interests.

Rather than digging for coal and lead though, the modern day miners want to use the controversial techniques of fracking and underground coal gasification to win natural gas from shale and coal deposits.

Fracking is the process of hydraulic fracturing of rock by injecting a mixture of sand, water and chemicals so that energy sources such as gas, petroleum and brine can be extracted.

And while there are currently no sites designated for such activities on the books of Northumberland County Council, campaigners want to be prepared should any applications come along.

Dr Jonathan Boniface, from Fellside, has become one of the leading lights in the newly-formed Keep Northumberland Frack Free group, which is to hold its first public meeting to discuss the threat of fracking and UCG in Hexham Community Centre on Saturday at 2pm.

Tynedale has been known over the centuries for its rich deposits of valuable minerals, from the lead, silver and zinc of the Allen Valleys, to the vast coalfields which underlie much of the district, from Haltwhistle and Halton Lea Gate to Prudhoe and Mickley.

Only a decade ago, Australian company Roc Oil found “gas saturated tight sands” in a £1m drilling exercise at Errington Red House, close to the Roman Wall near Bingfield.

The company decided back in 2005 that site conditions and the technology available at that time made it uneconomic to exploit the reserves in their 2,000m deep excavation, but made it plain that technological advances did not rule out a return in the future.

More than 1,000 residents signed a petition trying to block the drilling and the county council received 53 letters of objection – but permission to drill was still granted.

Members of the Keep Northumberland Frack Free group came together over the course of the last General Election campaign, during which they found both fracking and UCG were a major source of concern for many residents of Northumberland.

Dr Boniface said: “We have discovered in the last few months that fracking and UCG causes concern for a wide range of people and business owners in our local area.

“The industries should not underestimate local people’s concerns, or just how informed many of them are about the potential dangers of fracking and UCG.

“There’s a reason why these technologies are being banned in many areas of the United States and have already been banned by some of our European neighbours, such as France.

“It’s incredibly worrying that concerns over the safety of these processes have led to a moratorium just across the border in Scotland, whilst Northumberland would seem to have been ‘green lighted’ for exploitation.

“Many local people feel incredibly passionate about this subject and we want to provide a forum for them to express their views.”

The campaign has already attracted attention online, with the Keep Northumberland Frack Free Facebook page attracting over 150 subscribers in just over two weeks, on top of a petition which has, to date, attracted nearly 1,500 signatures both online and on paper.

Dr Boniface expressed his hope that the public meeting would provide the impetus to push the campaign forward.

He said: “It is my hope that the first meeting will bring together a group of people prepared to form a steering committee that reflects people of all backgrounds and political affiliations, a group with the energy and drive to show that we, as local people, want our voices to be heard.”

While officially keeping an open mind on the subject of fracking, a spokesman for Northumberland County Council said: “The exploratory appraisal or production phase of hydrocarbon extraction can only take place in areas where the Department of Energy and Climate Change has issued a licence under the Petroleum Act 1998 (Petroleum Licence).

“There are currently no such areas in Northumberland.

“Planning permission would also be required for the extraction of shale gas. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the national approach to planning for minerals including shale gas by ‘fracking’.

“The emerging Northumberland Core Strategy includes a number of draft policies that any future planning applications for ‘fracking’ would be considered against.

”The draft policies set out a range of environment criteria for assessing proposals, including a requirement to demonstrate that any benefits outweigh the adverse impacts on local communities and the environment.”

Tory peer George Howell caused uproar two years ago when he implied that the North-East would be ideal for fracking because it was so desolate and lacking in natural beauty.

His comments brought an angry backlash from around the country, with people including the Archbishop of Canterbury leaping to the county‘s defence.