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.
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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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