Alburnus Maior is a non-governmental organisation based in Rosia Montana. It was founded by local property owners in 2000 to campaign against the large-scale gold/silver mine proposed by Canadian Gabriel Resources. Alburnus Maior opposes the mine on social, environmental, economic and cultural grounds and advocates development models that respect and value the areas’ unique natural, cultural and social patrimony.
In 2002 Alburnus Maior and roughly 40 Romanian NGO gathered at Rosia Montana to release a common declaration. This gave rise to the ‘Save Rosia Montana!’ campaign which today comprises an active network of organisations, institutions and volunteers based in Romania and beyond. Since several years the ‘Save Rosia Montana!’ campaign has been Romania’s largest environmental movement.
Whilst the networks activities are diverse, Alburnus Maior’s most innovative campaign tool has been litigation. Since 2004 Alburnus Maior has initiated and carried through manifold court cases against public institutions who in irregular ways granted permits to the Rosia Montana project owner. Several of these cases were won by Alburnus Maior’s legal team and in return lead to an effective blockage of the Rosia Montana mine development since September 2007.
In recent years and presently wrong assumptions have been made regarding the relationship between Alburnus Maior and the Soros Foundation in Romania. In order to rectify these Alburnus Maior wishes to highlight that that there exists no collaboration between the two and that the Soros Foundation in Romania has never been part of the ‘Save Rosia Montana!’ campaign or of Alburnus Maior’s litigation activities.
