BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania’s environment minister says an application by Gabriel Resources Ltd. (TSX:GBU) for permits to move ahead with a controversial gold mine can’t be speeded up as requested by the president.
But Attila Korodi told a radio station Wednesday he would carefully examine the project, a day after becoming minister. Korodi says “the question is whether what we have now is good for Romania.”
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Gabriel Resources, which is headquartered in Toronto, has spent several years working on permits and negotiations related to the development of the massive Rosia Montana gold-silver project in western Transylvania.
The yet-to-be-built mine, which research has indicated holds 300 tons of gold and 1,600 tons of silver, received the public support of President Traian Basescu in August.
Basescu has urged Korodi to expedite the process, saying the mine will bring jobs to a deprived region and vital foreign investment. But environmentalists and archeologists oppose the project, which uses cyanide in the extraction process.
Opponents also say building the open-cast mine would damage ancient monuments and destroy a mountain face.
– with files from The Canadian Press
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