Of Roşia Montană

Wednesday we arranged a celebration for the villagers up by the lake. It was the first time I went there. It is always a small wonder to see a great mass of water lifted above the level of the ground.. here was a small lake with a far reaching view over wood clad mountainsides. The sun was orange, veiled by the evening mist, the mountains a sign of constancy, comforting to the eyes. There’s old men and women, children and their parents, foreign students around the tables, besides ourselves. But if we were not all here, if the village was all together abandoned, would this place be desolate?

Roşia Montană is Romania’s oldest documented settlement and was known from old times to be rich in gold and silver. Mining goes back centuries and has continued until recently. Now the village is being depopulated, a mining company is buying the properties. But the permission to start the project has not been given by the Romanian government, and it has already been years of struggle between the company and the several opponents.

Since the gold ores are exhausted there is need for a modern and massive technique: washing out the gold from crushed mountain stone with cyanide. This technique requires the construction new roads for the several-ton-vehicles, of a plant, of an entire pond and dam to catch the waste water; it entails the devastation of the mountain landscape around the village, resulting in four huge pits; and the filling up of the Corna Valley with waste material.

The mining company is visibly present in the village. The golden ring-logo of Gabriel Resources (GR) appears on many houses and there’s a museum and an info-point to explain to the visitors what the company plans to do here. At the info-point a young woman shows me around. She is from Roşia Montană, her father was a miner here, and her grand-fathers. She says she hopes the project will be realised and that the opposition has been a help in assuring the continued existence of the village. In the museum an archeologist explains about the archeological research that was a condition for the company to proceed with the project. He has been here for many years and has formed an opinion in favor of the company.

Since yesterday there hangs a banner on the house next to the museum (also owned by GR) put up by the ‘future miners’ union’ – local, unemployed miners who want jobs - alongside banners announcing two other local events sponsored by the company - a response to the FanFest (Hay Festival), which is taking place these days. FanFest is an event to mark the resilience of the local community and an opposition to the mining project. It has transformed the simple pattern of the village, weaving in lots of new threads and connections. The gendarmerie is patrolling in the village, a three-man band at the local pub has been playing all day, there’s music rolling down the mountain from the Taul Brazi lake further up.

The promises of the company are overwhelming: 4 billion USD to the national economy; over 2,000 jobs in the construction period; Education of the local population, not just for mining jobs but to ensure the business of the village after the mining is over; Restoration of the ‘protected areas’ and infrastructure to make tourist trails; Re-forestation of the area and improvement of the environment; health programme, summer school for children;... and it has so far payed an archeological research and restoration of some historical houses at the cost of $ 10 mio. But the architects restoring another house in the village contest the quality of the company’s work.

And who will ensure that the promises are kept? “It is possible that Gabriel Resources would become a senior company were the project to win all of the approvals necessary to proceed. But it is more likely that the company would sell the project to an established senior company. At that point, all of the promises that Gabriel has made would pass to someone else to fulfill” (GR is at present a junior company).

Where are all the people who were in the houses? Well, many of them have chosen to be resettled nearby or in a nearby town, where the company have built over 125 houses in one neighbourhood. Would be interesting to visit them there and hear what this move has meant to them. (Anna Hoegsbro Laursen)