The Canadian Press reports, “The chief executive of Gabriel Resources says it needs quick progress on a new mining law in Romania or the company will be forced to do ‘something radically different’ with its controversial gold project. …He did not say what ‘radically different’ would mean, but said the company was looking at all of its options.”
But among the options Gabriel’s CEO Jonathan Henry has previously mentioned is an investor-state challenge against Romania. In an interview in September, Henry stated that, “We have a very, very robust (investor-state) case, and we believe we have claims up to $4 billion that we can send to the Romanian state. We will go ahead and do that if the vote is against.”
Today’s article notes that the government is now looking at “a broader legal framework for gold and silver mines” in Romania.
In mid-October, Globe and Mail business columnist Eric Reguly wrote, “Launched in the mid-1990s, the company’s plan was to make a lot of money quickly by building a four-pit monster, one that would blow up two mountainsides, displace about 2,000 villagers and fill an entire valley with waste-rock and cyanide-laced sludge. Covering nearly 300 hectares, the so-called tailings pond would rise from an initial height of 70 metres to 180 metres – one third the height of Toronto’s CN Tower – and eventually hold 215-million tonnes of waste.”
We continue to monitor this situation and have made contact with allies in Romania.
Further reading:
Romanian commission says no to Canadian gold mine
Europeans face investor-state challenges with CETA
Oliver says CETA will be good for mining companies