Magyar Nemzet
Even the Academy of Sciences in Bucharest opposes the goldmining in Transylvania accompanied by resettlements. In Verespatak the preparations have started for resettling the population from the neighbourhood of the gold- and silver mine owned by a Romanian-Australian company.

Eugen Simion, Chairman of the Romanian Academy of Sciences has announced that the biological, geological, chemical, and historical departments of the Academy analysed the project of Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) about the gold mining enterprise. The report states that the consequences of gold mining may be catastrophic to the environment of Szigethegység mountain range. The opencast mining using explosives can affect villages in the region, even causing minor earthquakes, announced the Transindex news agency quoting BBC.

The Romanian Ministry of Culture started archaeological excavation in the region of Verespatak in 2001 finding traces of ancient mining in the adits. The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) issued a report warning of the machinations of Budapest allied with environmentalists and Greenpeace activists as according to the report of Greenpeace the gold mining project of Verespatak and the resettling of the population would hinder the EU-accession of Romania.

The project means the evacuation of 2000 people and a grave threat to the environment and to the buildings of the region. In spite of these protests the parties of Romania, including the Hungarian Democratic Union, did not prevent the beginning of the work, only the extremist Greater Romania Party (PRM) brought in a bill to cancel the contract with Rosia Montana Gold Corporation but the bill was refused with a great majority.

Discussion/Fórum