Romanians Against Cyanide Mining

Tia Oja,

Correspondent (Europe)

 

BUCHAREST — According to The Independent, hundreds of Romanians took part in a protest in Trafalgar Square at the end of September. The protesters expressed their discontent about the plan to create an open-cast gold mine in the village of Rosia Montana.

The Romanian government has passed a draft bill according to which Gabriel Resources, a Canadian resource company, would be allowed to create a gold mine which would, according to The Independent, lead to the destruction of four mountain tops, create a lake contaminated with cyanide and force hundreds of families to relocate.

The Romanians distress over the gold mine is understandable, as the country has had experience on one of the worst environmental disasters due to gold mining. In 2000, a mining project at a Romanian city of Baia Mare went horribly wrong when approximately 70 tons of cyanide and other toxic waste water escaped in to the river Tisza. The accident caused the death of hundreds of animals such as fish and otters. Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria were all affected by the accident. The current plan is to use 130 times more cyanide in the gold mining of Rosia Montana than was used in 2000 at Baia Mare.

Romania’s capital city, Bucharest, has also acted as a place for protestors to stand up for a good cause. September has been a month for protests against gold mining in Romania for many cities around Europe and Bucharest alone witnessed a protest of around 30,000 participants.

It remains to be seen whether the pressure within as well as from outside the country of Romania is enough to make the government reconsider the draft bill. At the moment, it can be argued that the people of Rosia Montana have thousands of people around Europe fighting for and with them.

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