Villagers approve resettlement plan

From a distance, the village of Rosia Montana in Romania’s Transylvanian Mountains epitomizes the pastoral tranquillity of rural Europe. A closer inspection reveals the scars of a repressive political system that kept citizens impoverished for almost half a century. With the regime now gone, villagers, hopeful for economic renewal, have agreed to relocate in order to allow Gabriel Resources (GBU-T) to develop a large gold mine covering much of their present townsite.

The resettlement plan being formulated by Toronto-based Planning Alliance will form part of the environmental impact assessment, which, in turn, will be part of a definitive feasibility study. It will conform to World Bank standards, as well as to Romanian legal requirements.

Before the resettlement can begin, Gabriel is required to negotiate, on an individual-by-individual basis, resettlement and relocation packages and schedules. Those efforts will be guided by Planning Alliance’s action plan, which provides the framework to integrate mining planning and community planning in a fair manner throughout the process.

During a site visit in the fall of 1999, local officials told The Northern Miner that relocation should not be a problem. “In the past,” one said, “when the former president [Nicolae Ceausescu] wanted land for some purpose, he forced people off their farms into crowded apartments. The villagers are afraid of that, but I think they would be quite happy to move into homes with running water and better amenities.”

Mining is nothing new in this part of the world. Indeed, the modern operation envisioned by Gabriel will encompass the same ground worked by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago, by local miners in the medieval period, by the Austro-Hungarians before the First World War, and by the communist regime in the latter half of the past century.

The district reached peak production in the late 1800s, resulting in the development of several hundred kilometres of underground workings. Production fell dramatically in the latter years of the communist regime. The last operating mine at Rosia Montana eked out a mere 12,000 oz. annually, owing to a variety of problems typical of state-owned mines, such as poor grade control and high dilution, inefficient mining techniques and low recoveries.

The antiquated mill at Rosia Montana recovered only about half the gold from ores processed in its flotation circuit, and, if that weren’t bad enough, the nearby smelter didn’t do much better when it processed the concentrates. Government officials candidly admit they had been spending two dollars to make one, and that such practices had to end. Several other mines were closed for similarly bleak operating efficiencies, leaving behind high unemployment and, in most cases, unfunded environmental liabilities.

The damage caused by past mining is visible in this part of the Romania. While Gabriel must design, operate and reclaim its new mine to high environmental standards, it has been indemnified against damage done by previous operators. However, the company must carry out a program to discharge areas of archeological and historical interest that will be affected by the development of a new mine.

The local council at Rosia Montana has approved a new land-use plan that focuses on the overall, long-term socio-economic objectives of various villages comprising the borough. The land was re-zoned for industrial purposes, thereby providing Gabriel with the legal basis to undertake its proposed resettlement plan. Approvals from state agencies are also in-hand.

By mid-2001, Gabriel expects to have completed a feasibility study for a large open-pit operation. At last report, the gold project contained an overall resource of 344 million tonnes grading 1.3 grams gold per tonne, or about 14.3 million oz. gold and 67 million oz. silver. The bulk of this resource is in two main deposits: Cetate and Cirnic.