2013-12-13
ROSIA MONTANA - The Romanian village of Rosia Montana has been a site of historic gold and silver mining for over two millennia. Now, mining company Rosia Montana Gold Corporation plans a massive mining project, which is dividing the village into supporters and opponents.
The village in the Apuseni mountains in western Transylvania is sometimes referred to as Europe's biggest untapped goldmine. The Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, a cooperation between Canadian owned company Gabriel Resources and the Romanian state, has decided to make a move for the precious metals.
They are planning a massive mining project to construct a gold and silver mine. Opposers of the project claim a project like that would mean levelling the four protected mountains and dissolving them into cyanide baths to extract the precious metals, thereby destroying the many ancient Roman relics that have been there for thousands of years. Supporters say the project could turn the tide on the low employment rate in the area.
The company has started buying up houses in the village, and the project is dividing even individual families in the village more than ever.
Supported
€ 2,570, awarded on 8 November 2011.ID
2011/071Tags
ONLINE
- 'Billion-Euro Rosia Montana mining project rips communities apart' (The Black Sea, 11 December 2013)
- 'Foreign Governments, top diplomats and film stars caught up in Rosia Montana Gold Corp PR history' (The Black Sea, 20 January 2014)
- 'PR-ul RMGC ținteste guverne, diplomați și vedete de cinema' (RO) (Think Outside the Box, 21 January 2014)
- Bought and paid for – how Romania’s media is pressured by corporate and political masters - (openDemocracy.org, 22 November 2017)
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