This is a new setback and undoubtedly a final clap for the Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources, which was demanding $6.7 billion in damages from the Romanian government. In 2013, Bucharest suspended its project to exploit a gold mine in the village of Rosia Montana.
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With our special correspondent in Rosia Montana, Benjamin Ribout
The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes has rejected the request of Canadians who hoped to extract 300 tonnes of gold and 1,600 tonnes of silver from the Rosia Montana complex. Opposition to this project was supported by Romanian civil society since 2013. The executive joined the fight in 2016 and declared the site “ of historical interest “.
Gabriel Resources planned to blow up four massifs using cyanide in order to extract gold on this site which houses mining galleries dating back to the Romans. As such, it was even fittingly included in 2021 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is a victory for Romania which hoped not to have to compensate the Canadians. Which in 20 years of presence in Rosia Montana have contributed to dividing the population between those who saw in this project an opportunity for economic development and those worried about their environment.
Also listenEUROPEAN ACCENTS – The historic village of Rosia Montana