Publicat pe situl www.iwpr.net
Romanian Gold Project Stalled
Foreign investment to revive old gold-mining town on
hold because of political and ecological objections.
By Neil Barnett in Rosia Montana and Budapest (BCR No
543, 25-Feb-05)
The gold-mining town of Rosia Montana, high in
Romania�s Apuseni mountains, is a dilapidated,
depressed place where acid water pollution from the
mine turns the streams red.
The gold mine is state-owned and makes huge losses,
and when it closes as scheduled in the next couple of
years there will be precious few jobs left.
So the prospect of a massive new investment in a
bigger, more modern gold mine that would generate new
jobs might be seen as welcome applauded.
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, RMGC, owned 80 per
cent by Gabriel Resources of Canada, has been buying
up property in the town for three years in order to
clear space for a major mining and ore-processing
complex.
But it has become a source of controversy and
friction, especially with Romania�s neighbour,
Hungary.
While the project remains on hold � awaiting a green
light from the government, which is expected to make a
decision in the next two years � all supporters and
opponents of the scheme are mounting furious public
relations offensives.
Should the project get approval, RMGC will then seek
up to 600 million US dollars from international
lenders to develop the mine. Mining � should it
proceed � will last upwards of 17 years, producing an
estimated total of 10 million ounces of gold ore.
Much of the controversy centres on plans to construct
a tailing pond, a reservoir which will hold water
contaminated by the cyanide that is used to extract
pure gold from ore.
In 2000 a tailing pond in Baia Mare, northern Romania,
breached its dam during flooding, contaminating the
river Tizsa downstream in Hungary.
But according to RMGC�s president and managing
director Richard Hill, an Englishman with extensive
experience of mining around the world, the systems
used at Rosia Montana will be far safer than in Baia
Mare.
�In a modern mining business where you borrow foreign
capital, environmental standards are rigorously
enforced,� he said.
RMGC is especially keen to highlight the differences
between its pond and the one at Baia Mare because of a
recent Hungarian-made film about Rosia Montana, which
used footage from the 2000 disaster to warn of the
possible consequences of the new project.
The film, called Uj Eldorado (New El Dorado), won two
prizes at the Trieste Film Festival in January this
year.
Hill points out that in contrast to Baia Mare, the
water used in ore processing will have the cyanide
extracted before it runs off into the reservoir.
�Baia Mare uses its tailings dam as a storage facility
for process water. We will not do that; we will keep
it in the process plant and once we�ve finished with
it, then we�ll place it in the storage facility,� he
said.
RMGC says similar processes are routinely employed at
mines in Spain, New Zealand, Sweden and Finland
without serious problems.
Hill added, �If things do go wrong, then we must
manage responses better than in 2000.�
As well as local environmentalists, the Rosia Montana
scheme has met with strong opposition in neighbouring
Hungary.
Viktor Orban, leader of the opposition Fidesz party,
has hinted that Hungary ought to veto Romania�s
application to join the European Union because of the
project.
In an interview with IWPR, Fidesz foreign policy
spokesman Zsolt Nemeth, who also chairs the Hungarian
parliament�s foreign affairs committee, said, �Our
most important objection is environmental. Hungary is
directly endangered by water pollution. The pollution
from Baia Mare eliminated almost all life in the river
Tisza.�
Both the Tisza and the river Mures � which runs near
Rosia Montana � flow from Romanian to Hungarian
territory to become major tributaries of the Danube.
But as well as concern at the environmental risks,
interest in Rosia Montana is heightened because it
lies within Transylvania, a region with a substantial
Hungarian population which has remained an emotive
issue for Hungary since it was given to Romania in
1919.
Nemeth had his country�s particular interest in
Transylvania in mind when he criticised the buy-up of
village properties to make way for the mining project,
saying, �Then we have cultural concerns. I don�t think
the economic relocation of villages should be
encouraged.
�I�m worried that this message is not being understood
in Brussels, and that Romania�s [EU accession]
negotiations would not have been closed so quickly if
it were understood. Perhaps there�s a lack of
awareness.�
These concerns were not shared by Council of Europe
rapporteur Eddie O�Hara, who investigated the project
in December 2004 and found, �The RMGC project would
appear to provide an economic basis for sustainable
development of the whole area, with positive benefits
on environmental and social as well as cultural
grounds.�
Some suspect that Fidesz is using the Rosia Montana
issue as a stick to beat Romania with, so as to drum
up chauvinist votes in next year�s Hungarian election.
Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany has asked
Romania not to open the mine, although the
government's line is less confrontational than the
opposition and the environment minister Miklos
Persanyi has said that the mine would pose no real
threat to Hungary compared with existing facilities
like Baia Mare.
RMGC has in the past come under fire for controversy
surrounding its founder and former director, Vasile
Frank Timis.
Hill said, �Frank Timis, Gabriel Resources� founder,
did not declare two Australian convictions for heroin
trafficking when he was raising capital for the
project on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and inevitably
it came out.�
The company, says Timis, is no longer involved with
either Gabriel or RMGC. But Hill accepted that the
affair �has not helped�.
Nemeth also alluded to speculation that some funding
for the project could have come from the former secret
police of the Communist era, the Securitate. �It�s
hard to credit these rumours, but transparency is a
problem,� he said.
Hill rebuffed the Securitate allegations vigorously,
�People in a position like Mr Nemeth�s should not
trade in rumours. Our share register is visible.�
Partly as a result of the controversy, RMGC is facing
a battery of oversight measures.
Since Calin Tariceanu was appointed Romanian prime
minister in late December, he has hinted he might
agree to requests for further studies and
consultations with neighbouring countries. In early
February, Romania�s ombudsman opened an enquiry into
the project at the request of his Hungarian
counterpart.
In recent months, RMGC has been improving its public
relations operation to deflect the criticism that has
plagued the project.
Stephanie Roth of Alburnus Maior, a residents
association leading the domestic campaign against the
mine, says in exasperation, �The company has these
great PowerPoint presentations. I�m worried we don�t
get our point across so well.�
Alburnus Maior particularly objects to the company�s
claim that creating a new mine is the only way to
guarantee jobs for this mining community, and to fund
the eventual decontamination of the existing pits.
�People in the village have ideas. I have a
20-year-old who wants to open up the Roman-era mine
galleries to tourists. The miners know the galleries,
we can rehabilitate them, and there are EU accession
funds available to help. The good news about RMGC is
that it has made the people wake up and think about
their future,� said Roth.
Rosia Montana has provoked a feisty response from
civil society groups - the kind of grassroots activity
of which post-Ceaucescu Romania remains largely
bereft.
Yet while the mining companies, politicians,
film-makers, journalists and activists tussle over the
mine project, it sometimes seems as if the beleaguered
village itself is a mere footnote. There, most
people�s concerns are naturally more practical and
local in nature.
Imre Eckhardt, a 65-year-old retired miner from one of
the few dozen Hungarian families living in this mostly
ethnic Romanian community, said, �People are
distressed because work is insecure in the existing
mine, and we know that mining according to the old
system can�t go on.
�The new mine is the only thing that can save the
village, and we need investment whether it�s local or
foreign. The opponents of the mine don�t propose
anything serious in its place.�
Neil Barnett is a foreign correspondent specialising
in the Balkans. (www.neil-barnett.com)
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less.
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn.
Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/RR.olB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
EuroAtlantic Club: http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/
***
Birou de traduceri autorizate. Oana Gheorghiu - tel/fax: 252.8681 / [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
