Romania says no to Europe’s largest gold project
After months of street protests across Romania against Canada’s Gabriel Resources proposed gold mine at Rosia Montana, the parliamentary commission appointed to rework the project rejected it.
Toronto-listed Gabriel (TSE:GBU) was trading nearly 11% lower in early afternoon trade on Monday on the news, although Romania Insider reports “this is not the end for the gold mining project, as the Parliament is expected to draft a new law.”
The $311 million counter is down 65% this year as plans to develop an open-cast mine which once in production will be Europe’s largest producing 500,000oz/year, face increasing opposition from environmental and community groups.
“We have a very, very robust case, and we believe we have claims up to $4 billion that we can send to the Romanian state,” Gabriel Resources Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Henry, said in an interview in September. “We will go ahead and do that if the vote is against.”
The controversial mine has cost Gabriel Resources more than $580 million under no fewer than seven different CEOs, since the Canadian firm first obtained the concession in 1999.
Gabriel owns 80% of local operating subsidiary Rosia Montana Gold Corporation with the Romanian government the remainder.
Rosia Montana is believed the be one of the richest deposits in Europe with 314 tonnes of gold and 1,500 tonnes of silver and where mining activity dates back to the 1st Century.
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12 Comments
Gary
Great, now they can go back to tending their sheep without any worries of environmental issues
edsemaj me
James
Glenn
Of course the Romanians say no; it would mean having jobs instead of getting everything for free, begging and robbing their way around Europe; especially the UK.
Me
to poison you and destroy your country!
Zambila
Can you tell me exactly how many jobs would be created though this project? And for how many years?
How about how many would be destroyed due to vast destruction of the environment and massive polution ?
Not to mention years of incredibly high noise levels and dust and chemical poluted air and water ?
So how many LIVES will be AFFECTED or DESTROYED by this project in a densely populated area like Rosia Montana ? Inlcuding the lives of those few ( not more than 300) with the jobs ( and their families) …
Dan
@0fb8a994ebb540bb878605ec81ab62eb:disqus & @21fdc7e29e0dd2dc6cbdbbbe5b54d493:disqus your opinions do not matter. what has USA and UK empires done across the globe for centuries ? kill and rob, and now you blame a country that has nothing in common with gypsies. that is quite dumb.
Me
Right you are Sir.
USA and UK and beyond, are based for centuries on raw materials from other countries.What would have done without exploits the resources of other countries?
frankinca
I’ll still bet on the mine being reality. There must be something more than bribery and the noise of unemployed protestors that is standing in the way. Try a national referendum to see if the people won’t choose progress over recession. Obviously, details are only known by government and mining company officials, if my reasoning is correct. Transparency gets the most done, so try it!
NiftyWilly
It is really unclear to me why the project can not survive using CIP instead of CN. The tailings facility for this scale of operation will be considerable. I understand the concerns of the residents. Perhaps adjusting the process so that the CN portion is a very small scale as secondary recovery would be an acceptable way to move the project forward.
Tim Harry
Why is the cost under seven CEOs an issue? To emphasize the company’s incompetence in leading the project or excessive corporate expenses, in aligning to practices of an industry with serious problems today?
Gary
Zambila, Yep I eat all that and plenty more, get it from the local supermarket from the wages I earn on the mine.
Groundbreaker
The environmental arguments over the mine are a bit stupid… gold mines the world over use cyanide leaching with no problems. BUT the government have been corrupt as hell with this deal, and there are legitimate issues there.