Silver Mines secures $20m investment from Lundin, Rule-led fund
The company's flagship project hosts the largest known undeveloped silver resource in Australia.
In an open letter to Prince Charles, Huffington Post journalist Rupert Wolfe-Murray requests royal support to prevent new mining in the Rosia Montana region of Transylvania, Romania.
In the letter, Wolfe-Murray surveys the project’s environmental risks, and appeals to Charles’ appreciation of Transylvania’s ecosystem, using a 1998 quote from the prince in which he claimed to be “totally overwhelmed by its unique beauty and its extraordinarily rich heritage.”
Until last week, when thousands of Romanians took to the streets and to social media in protest, Canadian company Gabriel Resources had been on track to mine for gold and silver in Rosia Montana. The swell of opposition grew out of claims that three of the region’s sixteen villages would be destroyed and that use of cyanide in the extraction would endanger locals.
The Romanian Prime Minister responded to the protests by proposing a referendum on the mine. No public vote has been exercised but the prospect of the government pulling the plug has prompted Gabriel Resources to threaten billions of dollars in lawsuits.
A resident of Bucharest, Wolfe-Murray has done some admirable humanitarian work, but this letter smacks of opportunistic grandstanding; his choice of hero is dubious. What specific tasks does he wish to delegate to the prince, simultaneous ‘promoter of environmental awareness’ and chief business liaison to the Arabian Gulf petro-monarchies?
4 Comments
Andreea
well, most of us, even enviromentalists are ”dubious” and hypocrites, because no matter how some try to protect nature, most of the time we forget that we are also using plastic containers..etc. So no one is perfect really!
MINING.com Editors
Surely differences of degree count for something here…
baygreen
If you leave a message you are already feeding what you don’t want, but the technology is there better, safer, etc. you can recycle yourself try it, lets just look at 2 states North Dakota and Calif. who has a cleaner environment and who has 3% unemployment with yes the almighty tax man/woman waiting. President Putin can tell you and he does not even live here. Read the signs and change the rules we don’t need a veto on every corner and left or right doesn’t matter the right thing to do does!
Must See!
UNITED WE SAVE ROSIA MONTANA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ZReGz_hMI
More info: http://www.rosiamontana.org/en/stiri/the-protesters-demands-are-not-negotiable-victor-ponta-must-be-the-only-person-still-believing