Thousands of Romanian protesters spent the coming of a new month on the streets of Bucharest, to protest against the Government's plans of allowing a Canadian company to mine for gold.
Up to three thousand protesters marched towards the Government Headquarters from the University square, holding high above their heads proclaiming, "United for Rosia Montana," and "Our Children Don't Want Cyanide."
The mining project is to be spearheaded by Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, majority-owned by Canadian Gabriel Resources Ltd., and aims to use cyanide to mine 214 tons of gold, and 1,500 tons of silver. It is proposed to take place in Rosia Montana, a small town in the Apuseni Mountains of West Transylvania. The project also proposes to carve four quarries over the mine's lifespan, which would destroy four mountaintops and destroy four mountain tops and wipe out three of the sixteen outlying villages that make up the Rosia Montana municipality.
The government earlier this week has approved a draft law which enables Gabriel Resources Ltd., to open the mines, which has been awaiting a green light for 14 years, after securing up to 20 percent of the profits for the state.
The project is expected to bring jobs and money to the impoverished town of Rosia Montana, which suffered a hard economical blow when a state-owned gold mine closed down in 2006. The Rosia Montana mining project has been valued at $7.5 billion based on studies in 2007 that used an average price of $900 of gold per ounce.
Gold currently trades at around $1,390 per ounce.
Several civic rights groups and environmentalists have fiercely opposed and condemned the project, declaring that the project would destroy ancient Romani gold mines and villages. Much controversy has also arisen regarding the use of cyanide in mineral processing, amid fears of the cyanide leaching of gold, reminiscent of the Baia Mare cyanide spill of 2000, wherein a cyanide leak polluted the Somes River, and has been called to worst European environmental disaster since Chernobyl.
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