Rosia Montana
Encyclopedia
Roșia Montană is a commune of Alba County
in the Apuseni Mountains
of western Transylvania
, Romania
. It is located in the Valea Roșiei, through which the Roșia River flows. The commune is composed of sixteen villages: Bălmoșești, Blidești, Bunta, Cărpiniș (Abrudkerpenyes), Coasta Henții, Corna (Szarvaspatak), Curături, Dăroaia, Gârda-Bărbulești, Gura Roșiei, Iacobești, Ignățești, Roşia Montană, Șoal, Țarina and Vârtop.
The rich mineral resources of the area have been exploited since Roman
times or before. The state-run gold mine was forced to close in late 2006 in advance of Romania's accession to the EU but Gabriel Resources
of Canada
want to replace it with a new mine. This has caused controversy over the destruction of Roman remains and on fears of a repeat of the cyanide pollution at Baia Mare
.
The campaign against the cyanide mining at Roșia Montană was one of the largest campaigns over a non-political cause in the last 20 years in Romania. A plethora of organizations spoke out against the project, from Greenpeace
to the Romanian Academy
. Nevertheless, in late 2009, the Romanian government announced it made starting the project a priority.
in the 'Golden Quadrilateral' of Transylvania
since the late Stone Age
. Alburnus Maior
was founded by the Romans during the rule of Trajan
as a mining town, with Illyria
n colonists from South Dalmatia. The earliest reference to the town is on a wax tablet
dated 6 February 131. Archaeologists have discovered in the town ancient dwellings, necropolises, mine galleries, mining tools, 25 wax tablets and many inscriptions in Greek and Latin, centred around Carpeni Hill. The Romans left Dacia
in 271.
Mining appears to have started again in the Middle Ages
by German
migrants using similar techniques to the Romans. This continued until the devastating wars of the mid-16th century.
Mining was much expanded under the Austrian Empire
with the encouragement of the Imperial authorities. Charles VI funded the construction of ponds („tăuri”) in 1733. After the empire broke up in 1918, most of the remaining veins were mined out under fixed-length concessions (cuxe) granted to local citizens. The sulphide-rich waste generated large volumes of sulphuric acid which in turn liberated heavy metals into local water sources, in addition to the mercury used to extract the gold.
In 1948 the mines were taken over by the Romanian state, with traditional small scale underground mining continuing until the late 1960s. Attention then turned to the lower-grade gold disseminated through the rock surrounding the veins. In 1975 an open-cast pit was constructed at Cetate for bulk mining. This mine was operated by Rosiamin, a subsidiary of the state-owned company Regia Autonomă a Cuprului din Deva (RAC), and provided 775 jobs, representing most of the employment in the region. The ore was floatation-concentrated at Gura Roșiei and then extracted by cyanide leaching
at Baia de Arieş
. This mine needed subsidies of $3m/year in 2004 and was closed in 2006 before Romania joined the EU.
In 1995 RAC Deva signed a deal with the controversial Romanian-Australian businessman Frank Timiş
to reprocess the tailings at Roșia Montană.. Eventually the mining licence for an area of 23.8823 km² around Roşia Montană was transferred to the Roşia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC) from Minvest Deva SA (successor to RAC Deva). RMGC is owned 80% by Timiş' Toronto-listed company Gabriel Resources
, 19.3% by the Romanian government via Minvest, and 0.7% by local businessmen. RMGC plan to replace the old workings with a new operation according to EU standards, which would be the largest opencast gold mine in Europe. The controversy surrounding this project brought Roşia Montană to world attention.
(RMGC) plan to produce 7.943 million ounces of gold and 28.891 million ounces of silver over 17 years. The project will cost $638m and involves the creation of four mining pits covering 205ha, the first two at the old mining sites of Cirnic and Cetate, followed by pits at Jig and Orlea in Phase II. Up to 250 million tonnes of tailings will be dumped in a 363ha pond in the Corna Valley behind a 185m-high dam.
Gabriel Resources expect their EIA to be approved in the first quarter of 2007, followed by a construction permit, with first gold in the summer of 2009. The company states its commitment to ensuring an economic platform to create sustainable development that has social and cultural benefits. In addition it states to be a priority of the project to preserve and protect the cultural heritage of the region. The funds provided by the company to preserve the archaeological finds of the mines are much more than could be expected from the Government.
The accident at Baia Mare
in 2000 brought home to Romanians the dangers of cyanide leaching
of gold. Resistance to RMGC's plans really started after the Romanian Academy released a report on the project in April 2003. This is a key document which has been somewhat misunderstood over the years, but still gets referred to although it's been overtaken by events and changes in legislation.
Other key documents are the various reports and EIA from RMGC and the ripostes from Alburnus Maior
, the pressure group that continued the work started by the Academy.
Roșia Montană Gold Corporation
commit themselves to making sure that the mine operates in a manner that meets or exceeds all international environmental standards. Since 2008, The European Union has allowed no more than 10 parts per million (PPM) of cyanide at mining operations. The Rosia Montana levels will be between 5-7 PPM. Most cyanide will be used up in the mining process; that which remains will quickly be detoxified by using a modern and commonly-applied oxidation process. After the detoxification process, the remaining water will be discharged into a tailings dam. The dam, which will be 188 meters high and nearly 600 meters long, will be built to withstand an 8.0 Richter Scale earthquake and once-in-a-millennium rainstorms.
The 2003 Academy report was completely against the use of cyanide at the mine, recommending that all mining should be suspended until a non-cyanide method could be used. It cited a study claiming that the company had infringed the EIA Directive (85/337/EEC) and SEA Directive (2001/42/EC) during the application process up to 2003, although the company submitted a new EIA in May 2006.
The same study claimed that cyanide leaching infringed the Groundwater Directive (80/68/EC). This point was always debatable given the number of other gold mines in the EU using cyanide, and the legal situation changed as the Groundwater Directive was replaced by the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), and dedicated legislation appeared with the Mining Waste Directive (2006/21/EC). The latter has forced the company to plan an SO2/air cyanide detoxification circuit that will reduce the cyanide to below 1ppm, less than 1% of the concentration in the pond at Baia Mare. The Academy were still worried about the release of heavy metals from the tailings, and the products of cyanide neutralisation.
The Academy also mentioned the 2001 Berlin
Convention, which was a voluntary ban on cyanide in mining that has not been signed by Romania. The Academy worried that the company would not fully neutralise the tailings, recommending that the company should sign up to third-party audits under the Cyanide Code. The company has now done this.
Other worries of the Academy included the effects of explosions on local buildings, and the possibility of acid rain releasing hydrogen cyanide.
The orange water of the Roşia River is already heavily polluted from 2000 years of uncontrolled mining, with 110 times the legal limit of zinc
; 70 times the legal limit of cadmium
; and 3.4 times the legal limit of arsenic
.. The company say that they will reduce the existing Acid Rock Drainage.
According to the company, the project will employ 634 people (including foreign experts) for about 15 years, and 1,040 during construction. Moreover, the company's impact study estimates that at least US$4bn will be injected into the Romanian economy. RMGC will pay a 2% mining royalty, but as Roşia Montană is considered a "less favoured area" (zonă defavorizată), the company will benefit from tax exemptions and reduced customs duties for ten years. Obviously the government will still take 19.3% of the profits directly via Minvest, the rest of the profits will leave Romania with the Canadian company.
The 2003 Academy report argues that the mine will benefit the area only for 20 years or so, and that it would be more sustainable in the long term to create a new industry based on archaeological tourism. Rosia Montana Gold Corporation is working to develop the village as a tourism site so that the community can be economically self-sustaining once the mining project is completed. The company is also committed to preserving and restoring homes and buildings in the village’s historic center, most of which are 100 years old or older. To that end, the company has already finalized restoration of the first building in the historic center, which has become an exhibition space, part of the future Mining Museum.
RMGC argues that the project would have a lasting economical impact on the struggling region of Rosia Montana. Not only will the company implement several aspects to enable new business and economic growth, it will fund a non-profit organization committed to the development of the region that is impacted by the project.
Gabriel Resources’ three-year rescue archaeology programme cost $10m and discovered many objects that can now be seen in the "Mining Museum" (Muzeul Mineritului) of Roşia Montană. The Ministry of Culture gave them the Constantin Daicoviciu Award "for excellence in archaeological programs conducted during 2001". The 2003 Academy report thinks that the area could be made a World Heritage Site
if the mine did not go ahead, and wants to turn the local economy towards archaeological tourism.
Opponents have claimed that the mine would destroy 900 houses, 9 churches and 10 cemeteries. However most of these will be in the buffer zone around the mine, or in the Protected Area. According to the company, only the Orthodox church
and the dormant Greek Catholic church will be destroyed, and the company will pay for the movement of all cemeteries and funeral remains.
, the Romanian Orthodox Church
, the Romanian Catholic Church and the Romanian Unitarian Church
have all signalled their opposition to the project. Large NGOs such as Greenpeace
and political organisations such as the European Federation of Green Parties are also opposed. The World Bank Group
's International Finance Corporation
expressed reservations about the project in a 2002 letter to Gabriel Resources when it decided to not proceed with plans to finance the project, although it noted that "Our withdrawal...does not reflect the efforts your team have made in developing the programme's resettlement, environmental, cultural properties and social development issues."
The plan outraged Prince Charles of Great Britain, who is fond of Romania's Old Saxon villages.
On the other hand some of the local residents favour the development of the mine as the project would greatly increase employment in the town, and inject some estimated $2bn USD into the Romanian economy.
In August 2005, the Canadian government announced that it supports Gabriel Resources' project, while in October 2005, Miklós Persányi, the Hungarian Minister of Environment announced that the Hungarian government strongly opposes the project.. The Hungarian Historic Churches are particularly concerned about the threat to monuments and churches that are part of the common Hungarian cultural heritage.
In 2005, Gabriel Resources launched a new media campaign for the project. The National Broadcasting Council dismissed complaints that the ads were "immoral", but an email campaign led to the Romanian affiliates of the Discovery Channel
and National Geographic pulling the ads anyway.
British actress and campaigner Vanessa Redgrave
spoke out against the project as part of her speech for the acceptance of the lifetime achievement award at the 2006 Transylvania International Film Festival. The mining company replied with a full page advert in The Guardian, in which they argued that their mines would replace "2,000 years of poor mining practices" and will improve the condition of the environment.
Gabriel Resources has a big advertising budget, receiving a systematically biased favorable campaign media coverage from certain newspapers and television stations . The controversy includes commercials being withdrawn due to unbacked claims and Gabriel Resources employees heavingly spamming online editions of media outlets and blogs with editorial oversight with favorable propaganda using proxys when necessary.
The controversies surrounding the Rosia Montana gold mine project are explored in a documentary entitled Gold Futures by Tibor Kocsis. This film presented the plight of the anti-Gold Corporation residents of Rosia Montana, with a strong emphasis on the cultural and natural treasures of the area. The tourism attracted by the natural beauty and tranquillity of this isolated spot of the world is presented versus the risks of using huge amounts of cyanide
in the gold ore processing
. Gold Futures was based on Kocsis' previous multiple award winning documentary on the subject entitled: "New Eldorado. Gold. The Curse of Rosia Montana."
More recently a new documentary partially funded by Gabriel Resources, Mine Your Own Business
, asserts that environmentalists' opposition to the mine locks people into poverty. The film claims that the majority of the people of the village support the mine, and the investment. The film presents foreign environmentalists as alien agents opposed to progress while residents are depicted as eagerly awaiting the new opportunity.
in aid of the Save Roşia Montană campaign. "FânFest" (Fân means "hay" in Romanian) has featured many big Romanian bands and singers, such as Ada Milea, Luna Amară
, Shukar Collective
, Timpuri Noi
, Viţa de Vie and from the Republic of Moldavia - Zdob şi Zdub
. All artists perform pro bono in aid of the campaign and to celebrate artistic diversity and multiculturalism.
The three day FânFest event has a large range of cultural, environmental, musical and outdoor activities as well as offering the chance to participate in various workshops. The main stage features groups performing rock, jazz, folk, reggae and world music. The 2006 FânFest saw a second, "Alternative Activity", tent hosting theatre and dance performances, video projections and other cultural, environmental and social activities.
About 10,000 people attended the 2005 event.
Source:,
Alba County
Alba is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, its capital city being Alba-Iulia with a population of 66,406.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 382,747 and the population density was 61/km².* Romanians - 90.4%* Hungarians - 5.4%...
in the Apuseni Mountains
Apuseni Mountains
The Apuseni Mountains is a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Carpathians, also called Occidentali in Romanian. Their name translates from Romanian as Mountains "of the sunset" i.e. "western". The highest peak is "Cucurbăta Mare" - 1849 metres, also called Bihor...
of western Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. It is located in the Valea Roșiei, through which the Roșia River flows. The commune is composed of sixteen villages: Bălmoșești, Blidești, Bunta, Cărpiniș (Abrudkerpenyes), Coasta Henții, Corna (Szarvaspatak), Curături, Dăroaia, Gârda-Bărbulești, Gura Roșiei, Iacobești, Ignățești, Roşia Montană, Șoal, Țarina and Vârtop.
The rich mineral resources of the area have been exploited since Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
times or before. The state-run gold mine was forced to close in late 2006 in advance of Romania's accession to the EU but Gabriel Resources
Gabriel Resources
Gabriel Resources Ltd. is a multi-national mining firm based in Toronto. Gabriel is currently engaged in the exploration and development of mineral properties in Romania, with its primary focus on the development of its 80% owned controversial Rosia Montana gold project."The company was founded in...
of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
want to replace it with a new mine. This has caused controversy over the destruction of Roman remains and on fears of a repeat of the cyanide pollution at Baia Mare
2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill
The 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill was a leak of cyanide near Baia Mare, Romania, into the Someş River by the gold mining company Aurul, a joint-venture of the Australian company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government....
.
The campaign against the cyanide mining at Roșia Montană was one of the largest campaigns over a non-political cause in the last 20 years in Romania. A plethora of organizations spoke out against the project, from Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
to the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
. Nevertheless, in late 2009, the Romanian government announced it made starting the project a priority.
History
There is archaeological and metallurgical evidence of gold miningGold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
in the 'Golden Quadrilateral' of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
since the late Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
. Alburnus Maior
Alburnus Maior
Alburnus Maior is an NGO based in Roşia Montană, Romania, which opposes Gabriel Resources' proposed gold mining project there.-External links:* * *...
was founded by the Romans during the rule of Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
as a mining town, with Illyria
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....
n colonists from South Dalmatia. The earliest reference to the town is on a wax tablet
Wax tablet
A wax tablet is a tablet made of wood and covered with a layer of wax, often linked loosely to a cover tablet, as a "double-leaved" diptych. It was used as a reusable and portable writing surface in Antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages...
dated 6 February 131. Archaeologists have discovered in the town ancient dwellings, necropolises, mine galleries, mining tools, 25 wax tablets and many inscriptions in Greek and Latin, centred around Carpeni Hill. The Romans left Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
in 271.
Mining appears to have started again in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
by German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
migrants using similar techniques to the Romans. This continued until the devastating wars of the mid-16th century.
Mining was much expanded under the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
with the encouragement of the Imperial authorities. Charles VI funded the construction of ponds („tăuri”) in 1733. After the empire broke up in 1918, most of the remaining veins were mined out under fixed-length concessions (cuxe) granted to local citizens. The sulphide-rich waste generated large volumes of sulphuric acid which in turn liberated heavy metals into local water sources, in addition to the mercury used to extract the gold.
In 1948 the mines were taken over by the Romanian state, with traditional small scale underground mining continuing until the late 1960s. Attention then turned to the lower-grade gold disseminated through the rock surrounding the veins. In 1975 an open-cast pit was constructed at Cetate for bulk mining. This mine was operated by Rosiamin, a subsidiary of the state-owned company Regia Autonomă a Cuprului din Deva (RAC), and provided 775 jobs, representing most of the employment in the region. The ore was floatation-concentrated at Gura Roșiei and then extracted by cyanide leaching
Gold cyanidation
Gold cyanidation is a metallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water soluble coordination complex. It is the most commonly used process for gold extraction...
at Baia de Arieş
Baia de Aries
Baia de Arieș is a town in Alba County, Romania. It administers five villages: Brăzești, Cioara de Sus, Muncelu, Sartăș and Simulești...
. This mine needed subsidies of $3m/year in 2004 and was closed in 2006 before Romania joined the EU.
In 1995 RAC Deva signed a deal with the controversial Romanian-Australian businessman Frank Timiş
Frank Timis
Frank Timiş is a Romanian-Australian businessman living in London, with interests in mining and oil extraction industries. The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth at £162m , making him the 497th richest person in Britain...
to reprocess the tailings at Roșia Montană.. Eventually the mining licence for an area of 23.8823 km² around Roşia Montană was transferred to the Roşia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC) from Minvest Deva SA (successor to RAC Deva). RMGC is owned 80% by Timiş' Toronto-listed company Gabriel Resources
Gabriel Resources
Gabriel Resources Ltd. is a multi-national mining firm based in Toronto. Gabriel is currently engaged in the exploration and development of mineral properties in Romania, with its primary focus on the development of its 80% owned controversial Rosia Montana gold project."The company was founded in...
, 19.3% by the Romanian government via Minvest, and 0.7% by local businessmen. RMGC plan to replace the old workings with a new operation according to EU standards, which would be the largest opencast gold mine in Europe. The controversy surrounding this project brought Roşia Montană to world attention.
Mining project
Roșia Montană Gold CorporationRoșia Montană Gold Corporation
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation is a Romanian company established in 1997, in Alba County, based in Roșia Montană, whose shareholders are the State-owned mining company Minvest Deva - with 19.31%, Gabriel Resources – with 80.46% and other minority shareholders – with 0.23%...
(RMGC) plan to produce 7.943 million ounces of gold and 28.891 million ounces of silver over 17 years. The project will cost $638m and involves the creation of four mining pits covering 205ha, the first two at the old mining sites of Cirnic and Cetate, followed by pits at Jig and Orlea in Phase II. Up to 250 million tonnes of tailings will be dumped in a 363ha pond in the Corna Valley behind a 185m-high dam.
Gabriel Resources expect their EIA to be approved in the first quarter of 2007, followed by a construction permit, with first gold in the summer of 2009. The company states its commitment to ensuring an economic platform to create sustainable development that has social and cultural benefits. In addition it states to be a priority of the project to preserve and protect the cultural heritage of the region. The funds provided by the company to preserve the archaeological finds of the mines are much more than could be expected from the Government.
The accident at Baia Mare
2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill
The 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill was a leak of cyanide near Baia Mare, Romania, into the Someş River by the gold mining company Aurul, a joint-venture of the Australian company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government....
in 2000 brought home to Romanians the dangers of cyanide leaching
Gold cyanidation
Gold cyanidation is a metallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water soluble coordination complex. It is the most commonly used process for gold extraction...
of gold. Resistance to RMGC's plans really started after the Romanian Academy released a report on the project in April 2003. This is a key document which has been somewhat misunderstood over the years, but still gets referred to although it's been overtaken by events and changes in legislation.
Other key documents are the various reports and EIA from RMGC and the ripostes from Alburnus Maior
Alburnus Maior
Alburnus Maior is an NGO based in Roşia Montană, Romania, which opposes Gabriel Resources' proposed gold mining project there.-External links:* * *...
, the pressure group that continued the work started by the Academy.
Effects on the environment
- See Gold cyanidationGold cyanidationGold cyanidation is a metallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water soluble coordination complex. It is the most commonly used process for gold extraction...
for general information on the effects of cyanide from mining operations and relevant legislation
Roșia Montană Gold Corporation
Roșia Montană Gold Corporation
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation is a Romanian company established in 1997, in Alba County, based in Roșia Montană, whose shareholders are the State-owned mining company Minvest Deva - with 19.31%, Gabriel Resources – with 80.46% and other minority shareholders – with 0.23%...
commit themselves to making sure that the mine operates in a manner that meets or exceeds all international environmental standards. Since 2008, The European Union has allowed no more than 10 parts per million (PPM) of cyanide at mining operations. The Rosia Montana levels will be between 5-7 PPM. Most cyanide will be used up in the mining process; that which remains will quickly be detoxified by using a modern and commonly-applied oxidation process. After the detoxification process, the remaining water will be discharged into a tailings dam. The dam, which will be 188 meters high and nearly 600 meters long, will be built to withstand an 8.0 Richter Scale earthquake and once-in-a-millennium rainstorms.
The 2003 Academy report was completely against the use of cyanide at the mine, recommending that all mining should be suspended until a non-cyanide method could be used. It cited a study claiming that the company had infringed the EIA Directive (85/337/EEC) and SEA Directive (2001/42/EC) during the application process up to 2003, although the company submitted a new EIA in May 2006.
The same study claimed that cyanide leaching infringed the Groundwater Directive (80/68/EC). This point was always debatable given the number of other gold mines in the EU using cyanide, and the legal situation changed as the Groundwater Directive was replaced by the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), and dedicated legislation appeared with the Mining Waste Directive (2006/21/EC). The latter has forced the company to plan an SO2/air cyanide detoxification circuit that will reduce the cyanide to below 1ppm, less than 1% of the concentration in the pond at Baia Mare. The Academy were still worried about the release of heavy metals from the tailings, and the products of cyanide neutralisation.
The Academy also mentioned the 2001 Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
Convention, which was a voluntary ban on cyanide in mining that has not been signed by Romania. The Academy worried that the company would not fully neutralise the tailings, recommending that the company should sign up to third-party audits under the Cyanide Code. The company has now done this.
Other worries of the Academy included the effects of explosions on local buildings, and the possibility of acid rain releasing hydrogen cyanide.
The orange water of the Roşia River is already heavily polluted from 2000 years of uncontrolled mining, with 110 times the legal limit of zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
; 70 times the legal limit of cadmium
Cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low...
; and 3.4 times the legal limit of arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
.. The company say that they will reduce the existing Acid Rock Drainage.
Effects on the local economy
By September 2006 Gabriel Resources had purchased 60% of the properties required for the project from local land owners. Prior to commencing construction of the mine site, the company will need to make additional land purchases from property owners. The Academy report claims that compulsory acquisition would be a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, and that the 20% local ownership is not sufficient to justify a 'public interest' defence of expropriation.According to the company, the project will employ 634 people (including foreign experts) for about 15 years, and 1,040 during construction. Moreover, the company's impact study estimates that at least US$4bn will be injected into the Romanian economy. RMGC will pay a 2% mining royalty, but as Roşia Montană is considered a "less favoured area" (zonă defavorizată), the company will benefit from tax exemptions and reduced customs duties for ten years. Obviously the government will still take 19.3% of the profits directly via Minvest, the rest of the profits will leave Romania with the Canadian company.
The 2003 Academy report argues that the mine will benefit the area only for 20 years or so, and that it would be more sustainable in the long term to create a new industry based on archaeological tourism. Rosia Montana Gold Corporation is working to develop the village as a tourism site so that the community can be economically self-sustaining once the mining project is completed. The company is also committed to preserving and restoring homes and buildings in the village’s historic center, most of which are 100 years old or older. To that end, the company has already finalized restoration of the first building in the historic center, which has become an exhibition space, part of the future Mining Museum.
RMGC argues that the project would have a lasting economical impact on the struggling region of Rosia Montana. Not only will the company implement several aspects to enable new business and economic growth, it will fund a non-profit organization committed to the development of the region that is impacted by the project.
Effects on historical buildings
The remains of the Roman mining town include ancient industrial facilities, temples, baths, houses and tunnels. The latter have been described by UNESCO as "a unique archaeological complex of Roman mine galleries", although company spokesman Adrian Dascalu has suggested that "They're more Austro-Hungarian than Roman". Most of these remains would be destroyed by the project.Gabriel Resources’ three-year rescue archaeology programme cost $10m and discovered many objects that can now be seen in the "Mining Museum" (Muzeul Mineritului) of Roşia Montană. The Ministry of Culture gave them the Constantin Daicoviciu Award "for excellence in archaeological programs conducted during 2001". The 2003 Academy report thinks that the area could be made a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
if the mine did not go ahead, and wants to turn the local economy towards archaeological tourism.
Opponents have claimed that the mine would destroy 900 houses, 9 churches and 10 cemeteries. However most of these will be in the buffer zone around the mine, or in the Protected Area. According to the company, only the Orthodox church
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
and the dormant Greek Catholic church will be destroyed, and the company will pay for the movement of all cemeteries and funeral remains.
Public reaction
The Romanian AcademyRomanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
, the Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
, the Romanian Catholic Church and the Romanian Unitarian Church
Unitarian Church of Transylvania
The Unitarian Church of Transylvania is a church of the Unitarian denomination, based in the city of Cluj in the Principality of Transylvania, present day in Romania...
have all signalled their opposition to the project. Large NGOs such as Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
and political organisations such as the European Federation of Green Parties are also opposed. The World Bank Group
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that makes leveraged loans, generally to poor countries.The Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements, which emerged from the United Nations Monetary...
's International Finance Corporation
International Finance Corporation
The International Finance Corporation promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries.IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States....
expressed reservations about the project in a 2002 letter to Gabriel Resources when it decided to not proceed with plans to finance the project, although it noted that "Our withdrawal...does not reflect the efforts your team have made in developing the programme's resettlement, environmental, cultural properties and social development issues."
The plan outraged Prince Charles of Great Britain, who is fond of Romania's Old Saxon villages.
On the other hand some of the local residents favour the development of the mine as the project would greatly increase employment in the town, and inject some estimated $2bn USD into the Romanian economy.
In August 2005, the Canadian government announced that it supports Gabriel Resources' project, while in October 2005, Miklós Persányi, the Hungarian Minister of Environment announced that the Hungarian government strongly opposes the project.. The Hungarian Historic Churches are particularly concerned about the threat to monuments and churches that are part of the common Hungarian cultural heritage.
In 2005, Gabriel Resources launched a new media campaign for the project. The National Broadcasting Council dismissed complaints that the ads were "immoral", but an email campaign led to the Romanian affiliates of the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
and National Geographic pulling the ads anyway.
British actress and campaigner Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
spoke out against the project as part of her speech for the acceptance of the lifetime achievement award at the 2006 Transylvania International Film Festival. The mining company replied with a full page advert in The Guardian, in which they argued that their mines would replace "2,000 years of poor mining practices" and will improve the condition of the environment.
Gabriel Resources has a big advertising budget, receiving a systematically biased favorable campaign media coverage from certain newspapers and television stations . The controversy includes commercials being withdrawn due to unbacked claims and Gabriel Resources employees heavingly spamming online editions of media outlets and blogs with editorial oversight with favorable propaganda using proxys when necessary.
Films: "Gold Futures" and "Mine Your Own Business"
The debate over the Rosia Montana mine project inspired two documentaries so far.The controversies surrounding the Rosia Montana gold mine project are explored in a documentary entitled Gold Futures by Tibor Kocsis. This film presented the plight of the anti-Gold Corporation residents of Rosia Montana, with a strong emphasis on the cultural and natural treasures of the area. The tourism attracted by the natural beauty and tranquillity of this isolated spot of the world is presented versus the risks of using huge amounts of cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
in the gold ore processing
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
. Gold Futures was based on Kocsis' previous multiple award winning documentary on the subject entitled: "New Eldorado. Gold. The Curse of Rosia Montana."
More recently a new documentary partially funded by Gabriel Resources, Mine Your Own Business
Mine Your Own Business
Mine Your Own Business is a documentary directed and produced by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney in 2006 about the Roșia Montană mining project. The film asserts that environmentalists' opposition to the mine is unsympathetic to the needs and desires of the locals, prevents industrial progress,...
, asserts that environmentalists' opposition to the mine locks people into poverty. The film claims that the majority of the people of the village support the mine, and the investment. The film presents foreign environmentalists as alien agents opposed to progress while residents are depicted as eagerly awaiting the new opportunity.
FânFest festival
From 2004 to 2011, in August, several NGOs have organized a free music festivalMusic festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
in aid of the Save Roşia Montană campaign. "FânFest" (Fân means "hay" in Romanian) has featured many big Romanian bands and singers, such as Ada Milea, Luna Amară
Luna Amara
Luna Amară is a Romanian alternative rock/grunge band. The name means "Bitter Moon" in Romanian, and is borrowed from the Roman Polanski movie of the same name, inspired by the eponymous novel written by Pascal Bruckner.-History:...
, Shukar Collective
Shukar Collective
Shukar Collective is a Romanian musical group which fuses traditional Romany|Romanes and electronic music. It is especially known for using traditional rhythms employed by the Ursari section of the Roma minority with contemporary electronic sampling...
, Timpuri Noi
Timpuri Noi
-History:Timpuri Noi was formed in 1980, and remained an underground act up to 1991. This was mainly due to what was perceived as "subversive lyrical content" in the Ceauşescu era. Incidentally, the name derives from a cliché of the period: its literal meaning is "New Times" , used to signify...
, Viţa de Vie and from the Republic of Moldavia - Zdob şi Zdub
Zdob si Zdub
Zdob şi Zdub is a Moldovan band, based in Chişinău, whose work for the last several years has combined elements of hip-hop , hardcore punk and comical lyrics with traditional Romanian folk music. The name is onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat...
. All artists perform pro bono in aid of the campaign and to celebrate artistic diversity and multiculturalism.
The three day FânFest event has a large range of cultural, environmental, musical and outdoor activities as well as offering the chance to participate in various workshops. The main stage features groups performing rock, jazz, folk, reggae and world music. The 2006 FânFest saw a second, "Alternative Activity", tent hosting theatre and dance performances, video projections and other cultural, environmental and social activities.
About 10,000 people attended the 2005 event.
Demographics
| Year | Total | Romanians Romanians The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania.... |
Hungarians | Roma Roma minority in Romania The Roma constitute one of the major minorities in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 5,756 | 4,651 (81%) | 669 | 170 |
| 1880 | 5,640 | 4,130 (73%) | 1,452 | n/a |
| 1890 | 5,543 | 4,037 (73%) | 1,472 | n/a |
| 1900 | 5,665 | 4,211 (74%) | 1,424 | n/a |
| 1910 | 5,165 | 3,623 (70%) | 1,515 | n/a |
| 1920 | 4,252 | 3,341 (79%) | 880 | n/a |
| 1930 | 4,362 | 3,673 (84%) | 609 | 60 |
| 1941 | 5,409 | 4,557 (84%) | 651 | n/a |
| 1956 | 4,169 | 3,684 (88%) | 416 | 63 |
| 1966 | 4,591 | 4,178 (91%) | 317 | 87 |
| 1977 | 4,393 | 4,060 (92%) | 157 | 168 |
| 1992 | 4,146 | 3,808 (92%) | 104 | 228 |
| 2002 | 3,872 | 3,518 (91%) | 55 | 289 |
Source:,
External links
- Rosia Montana Gold Corporation website
- Excavation versus Ecology - 2010 Situation of Project
- Environmentalism may destroy human lives by Tanja Stumberger
- rosiamontana.ro National Research Program Alburnus Maior
- fanfest.ro FânFest website All about the music festival
- www.truestory.ro and www.povesteaadevarata.ro Roşia Montană Gold Corporation
- 1st Communication Summer University: Torockó - Verespatak/Rîmetea - Roşia Montană
- [Kirk Leech: 'If the gold mine doesn't happen, our village will die'], spiked, October 2, 2006
- eurasischesmagazin.de: Der Fluch des Karpaten-Goldes (with photo gallery)
- Friends of the Earth
- Roşia Montană: Consumerism and its Disconnects
- Craig S. Smith, "Fighting Over Gold In the Land of Dracula", The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 3, 2007 - John FundJohn FundJohn H. Fund is an American political journalist and conservative columnist. Currently a senior editor of The American Spectator,...
, "Make Up Your Own Mine ", OpinionJournal.comOpinionJournal.comOpinionJournal.com was a website featuring content from the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal. It existed separately from the news content at wsj.com until January 2008, when it was merged into the main website....
, August 21, 2007 - ujeldorado.hu Documentary by Tibor Kocsis
See also
- Alburnus MaiorAlburnus MaiorAlburnus Maior is an NGO based in Roşia Montană, Romania, which opposes Gabriel Resources' proposed gold mining project there.-External links:* * *...
- Mine Your Own BusinessMine Your Own BusinessMine Your Own Business is a documentary directed and produced by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney in 2006 about the Roșia Montană mining project. The film asserts that environmentalists' opposition to the mine is unsympathetic to the needs and desires of the locals, prevents industrial progress,...
- StrawberryNetStrawberryNetStrawberryNet is a Romanian NGO network aimed at promoting "the protection of the environment, sustainable development, democracy and human rights" in Romania, using electronic telecommunication and ICT ....