Romania gov't rejects Canadian gold mine project

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Romania gov't rejects Canadian gold mine project

AP foreign, Monday November 11 2013

ALISON MUTLER

Associated Press= BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - The Romanian government won't allow a Canadian company to develop what would have been Europe's biggest open gold mine, the prime minister said Monday, shortly before a parliamentary commission nixed a bill that would have permitted the project.

The decisions were a boost to environmental advocates and come after 14 years of protest and debate about whether the foreign investment and the jobs that would have been created by the mine outweigh the costs to nature.

Immediate reaction was muted, with just a few dozen anti-mine activists rallying outside Parliament. Analysts say Canada's Gabriel Resources, which has invested hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in the project, could still devise a new proposal for the mine.

Its original plan proposed using cyanide to extract 314 tons of gold and 1,500 tons of silver in the town of Rosia Montana in northwestern Romania. The plan includes razing four mountains and creating a lake of cyanide.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/11061708

[sharp_stick]

1. They're still using

Cyanide to mine gold? I knew this was happening with the wildcat mines in the Amazon but I had no idea that established companies were still doing it.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

2. Thats good news,

as long as some re-branded approval of the same project doesn't slither its way in, then its a big victory for the very dedicated Romanian activists.