Rosia Montana--They take our gold, and we get cyanide, they shout. Demonstrators that range from environmentalists to parents with their children, students, poorly clad pensioners, and well-off looking middle class citizens have been protesting in Bucharest for days now. Their signs read: Treason in exchange for a bit of money! Culture instead of cyanide!
These people fear that the use of poisonous substances in the Rosia Montana mining project will cause severe damage. Activists have blocked a central square in Bucharest. The protests are to continue for the next week.
It is great to see that social consciousness is ever growing here, and that it is manifesting itself on the street, Green Member of Parliament, Remus Cernea, told DW.
A lot of gold and a lot of money
Romanian environmental organizations called the protests after the government gave the go-ahead to the project last week. The Rosia Montana gold mine, Europe`s largest, had been on hold for the past 14 years. It now awaits approval from parliament, which is set to vote on the project later this month.
President Traian Basescu, who in the past has openly supported the project, said this week that the protests were justified. He even said that calling a referendum on the project was being considered.
Earlier, Prime Minister Victor Ponta gave a similar statement: As the head of the government, Ponta said he was bound to support the project. On a personal level, however, the prime minister said he was against the operation and that he would vote against it in parliament.
The Romanian-Canadian Firm Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) is looking to extract some 300 tons of gold and 1600 tons of silver from the mine, located in northern Romania. The process includes the use of cyanide, one of the main sources of anger among protesters.
The company says it looks to begin operations by 2016, should it receive parliamentary approval. According to estimates, the mine could produce a profit of $2.3 billion (1.74 billion euros).
