Canada’s reputation at risk
Written by Robert Hodgson
Budapest Times
Thursday, 04 December 2008
Governor General pressed to help block controversial gold mine in Romania
President László Sólyom asked the Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean last Monday for help in connection with the controversial Rosia Montana open cast gold mine in Romania. Jean was in Budapest on a state visit last week as part of a tour of the region that will also take in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
"I have asked for Canada's help in preventing the activities of mining companies from jeopardising the Tisza River basin," said Sólyom after his meeting. He warned that Canadian companies risk damaging the reputation of their country through their conduct abroad.
The firm behind the mining project, Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), a joint venture with the Romanian government, is 80 per cent owned by Gabriel Resources of Canada. RMGC hopes to extract potential reserves of 330 tonnes of gold and 1,400 tonnes of silver by excavating four huge open cast mines in the Rosia Montana area of Romania.
However, over the border to the west, Hungarians are worried that the cyanide leaching technology used to extract the gold from ore could lead to fresh contamination of the Tisza river, in whose catchment area Rosia Montana lies.
Disaster before
Hungarians fear a repeat of the disaster in January 2000, when a dam burst at the Aurul gold mine in Baia Mare, releasing thousands of litres of cyanide solution into the tributaries of the Tisza, Hungary's second largest river.
The cyanide wiped out practically all aquatic life in the Tisza for as far as the historic Tokaj wine region. The poisoned water was gradually diluted as it flowed south towards the Danube in Yugoslavia, but bitter memories remain to this day.
Besides the environmental risk, opponents of the Rosia Montana mining project say it will ruin the area's potential as a tourist destination by destroying the local countryside and Roman antiquities, including mines, that date back almost two millennia.
Project stuck
RMGC argues that the technology with which it plans to handle cyanide waste at Rosia Montana would not only meet but surpass EU safety standards. The firm says that if Hungary and numerous environmental organisations including Greenpeace get their way, the inhabitants of a disadvantaged part of Romania will be condemned to a life of poverty.
The project was stalled by the Romanian Environment Ministry in September 2007, when it suspended the review of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prepared by RMGC, citing legal questions regarding an expired urban planning certificate issued to the firm.
Under EU law, a stringent EIA procedure must be followed before certain types of developments can be given the green light by local and national authorities.
A further blow to the firm came on 21 October this year when the Romanian courts supported the ministry's decision over the permit. Opponents of the mine now hope the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure will be declared invalid. RMGC is fighting on in the Romanian courts.
"News of the court case over the Rosia Montana project came as a great relief to Hungary," said Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány after a meeting with his Romanian counterpart Calin Popescu Tariceanu, coincidentally on the day of the court ruling. "Hungary continues to oppose the opening of the Rosia Montana mine," Gyurcsany added.
