Loading ...Romania wants former mining city of Rosia Montana to be pulled from UNESCO list
Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose plans to ask UNESCO to revoke the status of World Heritage site for the former mining town of Rosia Montana, as the nomination means important gold reserves can no longer be exploited.
The application, submitted to UNESCO by the former government, was the last nail in the coffin for Canadian Gabriel Resources’ (TSX:GBU) namesake project, which faced relentless local opposition and several attempts to block the proposed mine by the government.
In 2014, parliament yielded to pressure from environmentalists, worried about the potential use of cyanide to mine about 314 tonnes of gold and 1,500 tonnes of silver, and halted the project.
By then, the Toronto-based miner filed had spent 15 years and about and $700 million trying to build its $2bn Rosia Montana mine, so it filed a request for international arbitration. The idea was to seek compensation from Bucharest for the many delays to the company’s flagship project.
Currently, Gabriel is requesting Romania to pay $4.4 billion in damages for losses related to its long-stalled project.