EC Not Currently Planning To Ban Cyanide Mining, Despite MEPs Request

In May 2010, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the EC to adopt by the end of this year norms to ban cyanide use in mining, citing health and environmental risks.

At that time, most MEPs mentioned the potential consequences of the Rosia Montana gold mining project developed in western Romania and the accident which occurred in Baia Mare in 2000, when a dam holding contaminated waters burst, spilling 100,000 cubic meters of cyanide-contaminated water over farmland and then into the Somes river.

The Commission decided not to comply with the European Parliament's request.

The mining project at Rosia Montana is developed by Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), a joint venture consisting of Canada's Gabriel Resources and the Romanian state, with projected costs reaching more than $1 billion, through which the company expects to extract 626,000 ounces of gold per year for five years since the launch of the mine. An ounce of gold weighs 31.1 grams.

Gabriel Resources owns 80.46% of RMGC, while the Romanian state (19.31%) and other shareholders control the rest.

Romanian environmental NGOs have been protesting the project, which involves cyanide mining, since it was put on the table in the 1990s and have proposed to promote tourism and agriculture in the otherwise poor area.

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