ICDER/ Alburnus Maior
Joint Press Release
For immediate distribution
Rosia Montana Semi-Finals - TSX/GBU 0:1 ICDER/AM
Cluj-Napoca /Romania; 11 November 2009 – The Cluj Tribunal has taken the definitive decision (1) to annul Urbanism Certificate No. 105/ 27.07.2007 granted by the Alba County Council to Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) to continue the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure for its Rosia Montana mine proposal. The court action was promoted by Alburnus Maior and the Independent Centre for the Development of Environmental Resources (ICDER) (2). The urbanism certificate is suspended de jure (3) until the irrevocable settlement of the case.
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) is 80% owned by Gabriel Resources (TSX:GBU), a small, under-resourced and inexperienced Canadian mining company which plans to uproot the people of Rosia Montana to realize Europe's largest open-cast gold mine. 20% are owned by Minvest, a state-owned mining company. American miner Newmont (NTSE: NEM), American Electrum Strategic Holdings LLC and American Paulson & Co. each own just under 20% of Gabriel Resources. From its' onset the venture has been beleaguered by scandals, operational problems and vehement local, national and international opposition.
RMGC obtained Urbanism Certificate No. 105/2007 from the Alba County Council in July 2007; one week after the previous urbanism certificate (No. 78/2006) had been suspended in court. RMGC subsequently submitted the newly obtained urbanism certificate to the Ministry for the Environment to finalize the then ongoing EIA procedure. However on 13 September 2007 the Ministry for the Environment announced (4) that was impossible to continue the EIA procedure because it considered that Urbanism Certificate No 105/2007 is suspended de jure (5) and thus produces no effects. The Ministry for the Environment motivated its decision based on the new administrative litigation law which stipulates that any new administrative act that has the same content as its suspended predecessor is automatically also suspended de jure. RMGC also used the act to start other licensing procedures such as the dam safety permit, land use change permits including the Modification of the Zonal Urbanism Plan for the RMGC Industrial Development area, etc.
In the case leading to the definitive annulment of the act Alburnus Maior and ICDER successfully proved amongst others, that the act does not list the full inventory of the protected areas and their buffer zones; that it runs counter the new protection statue of the Carnic Massif following the final annulment of the archeological discharge certificate that had been issued by the Ministry for Culture and the Cults in 2004; that it was issued based on urbanism plans that have been declared illegal by the court and that the act infringes upon the principle of local autonomy given that it imposes the elaboration and approval of one single Urbanism Zonal Plan for all four municipalities directly affected by the RMGC Industrial Development Area.
The annulment of Urbanism Certificate No. 105/ 27.07.2007 via an irrevocable court decision removes the legitimacy of all licensing procedures/procedural stages that are based on it. RMGC was a party in the court case and 6 organizations which are directly or indirectly founded and sponsored by RMGC and who claim to represent the interests of the affected local communities also intervened in aid of RMGC.
"The definitive annulment of this act is a vital step forward for those of us who believe in justice and who value Rosia Montana for reasons other than gold or money," declared attorney Marius Liviu Harosa who represented Alburnus Maior and ICDER.
"In March the competent court suspended the act and now it has been annulled. This is means that until the cases’ irrevocable judgement there exists a strong legal basis to not re-activate the EIA procedure and to halt all licensing procedures based on this act," concludes Eugen David, president of Alburnus Maior.
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For more information please contact attorney Marius Liviu Harosa on +40 (0) 744 599 762 or Alburnus Maior at alburnusmaior@ngo.ro
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Endnotes:
(1) File no 1174/117/2008
(2) The Independent Centre for the Development of Environmental Resources is an NGO based in Cluj-Napoca/Romania. It develops programs that contribute to the protection of the right to a healthy environment and foster the development of Romania’s NGO sector.
(3) http://rosiamontana.org/en/index.shtml?cmd[314]=x-314-34471&cmd[316]=x-322-34471&cmd[300]=x-299-34471
(4) http://www.mmediu.ro/departament_mediu/rosia_montana/pdf/NOTE_Suspension.pdf
(5) Details about the court settlement on the de jure suspension of urbanistic certificate no 105/2007 can be found on http://rosiamontana.org/en/index.shtml?cmd[314]=x-314-34471&cmd[316]=x-322-34471&cmd[300]=x-299-34471
