Hungary demands Romania stop Canadian-led gold mine development
Published:
13 October 2004 y., Wednesday
Hungary's parliament said Tuesday that the European Union should ensure that Romania halts a Canadian-led gold and silver mine project that Hungary regards as a serious environmental threat.
"Hungary's biggest chance to stop the development is now," said Bela Turi-Kovacs, chairman of Hungary's environmental committee.
Romania hopes to join the EU in 2007, and Turi-Kovacs said the environmental segment of the entry negotiations should not be closed until Romania pledges to stop the mine, 80 per cent owned by Gabriel Resources Ltd. of Toronto.
The rest of the Rosia Mountain Gold Corp. is owned by a Romanian state-owned enterprise, Minvest S.A., although Gabriel (TSX:GBU) funds 100 per cent of the development costs.
Hungary is worried that the mine at Rosia Montana, 190 kilometres east of its border, could cause a repeat of environmental catastrophes in 2000, when two Romanian mines spewed cyanide, lead, copper and zinc into waters feeding Hungarian rivers.
In one of those incidents, cyanide-laced water leaked from a reservoir at an Australian-owned gold mine into the Tisza River, a tributary of the Danube, killing much of its aquatic life.
The $400-million-US Rosia Montana open-pit mine would also use cyanide to extract gold from some 13 million tons of ore a year.
Šaltinis:
Canadian Press
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, today presented to the College a preliminary assessment of the economic consequences for the air transport industry of the volcanic ash crisis.
more »
Boosting economic recovery, investing in Europe's youth and in tomorrow's infrastructures are the priorities of the 2011 draft budget adopted by the Commission on 27 April 2010.
more »
European Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia welcomes proposed commitments by Visa Europe to significantly cut its multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) for debit card payments.
more »
Because of the Icelandic volcano, flower growers in Colombia couldn't get their stems to markets in Europe.
more »
The Second Vice President of the Spanish government and Minister of Economy and Finance, Elena Salgado, on Sunday played down the importance of apparent fissures within the EU concerning the Greek financial crisis, expressing her confidence that all countries would support the aid package for this country, which will be accompanied by a tough budget-tightening plan.
more »
Commission launches an information campaign on the CE conformity mark - designed to ease the free movement of goods around Europe and protect consumers.
more »
If Europe's airports ever open again the introduction of new security measures like body scanners will be expensive.
more »
After Eurozone Finance Ministers agreed measures to address Greece’s financial woes last Sunday, MEPs quizzed leading economic figures, including the chairman of Goldman Sachs - former financial advisors to the Greek government - on how to strengthen EU economic governance and improve reporting of national statistics.
more »
The European Tourism Stakeholders Conference, being held in Madrid today and tomorrow, will explore ways and means to strengthen the visibility of tourism at a European level and to verify how the actions to promote a competitive EU tourism industry.
more »
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), World Bank Group member IFC, and The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) have joined up with the Asia Debt Management Hong Kong (ADM Capital) to establish a regional fund to invest in midsize companies facing financing difficulties as a result of the financial crisis.
more »