Romania: The Rosia Montana Golden Boys - 2013 (29 images)

The village of Rosia Montana in the Apuseni mountains of Transylvania has become famous of its never starting gold mining project. We at collectif-EST&OST-photo were already reporting on it ten years ago... The Canadian investors' company Gabriel Resources wants to reactivate socialist open pit mines, grind down four mountains, leach out all the precious metals with the help of cyanide and completely fill the neighbouring valley of Corna with the highly toxic residue thus creating just...
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The village of Rosia Montana in the Apuseni mountains of Transylvania has become famous of its never starting gold mining project. We at collectif-EST&OST-photo were already reporting on it ten years ago... The Canadian investors' company Gabriel Resources wants to reactivate socialist open pit mines, grind down four mountains, leach out all the precious metals with the help of cyanide and completely fill the neighbouring valley of Corna with the highly toxic residue thus creating just another ecological timebomb in the region. Not even the Romanian government is overly fond of this legacy project, mainly due to the fact that almost all the profits will disappear abroad while the trouble will stay with them. Gabriel Resources has a hard time soothing its greedy shareholders dying to hear the first explosions and feel the glitter of gold. Instead, their local subsidiary, the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, is presenting itself as the universal saviour of nature and culture. Pilot water treatment plants make red mine waters drinkable, miners and archeologists are crawling hand in hand through 2000 year old Roman tunnels saving whatever they find. RMGC is sponsoring sports events, opening museums and trying to keep the wonderful Habsburg-Hungarian old town from finally collapsing. The latter is not an easy task, especially since the same RMGC actively depopulated the village, taking over most of the empty real estate and triggering a whole new era of decay. Now the Golden Boys are almost alone, roaming the empty streets, peeping out of the windows, driving all the cars.
But not quite. The hard core opponents are also left, for example farmer Eugen David from the local NGO Alburnus Major or Sorin Jurca from the Rosia Montana Cultural Foundation. They are backed by the Romanian Academy of Sciences, by prominent cultural heritage preservers all over the world, by a vast international network of greens and environmentalists. After all, Rosia Montana deserves more than becoming a "protected" ghost town amidst an open pit moon landscape. It is worthy of the title of World Heritage. Romania should go for it, leave the legacy behind. The Golden Boys can stay, there will be enough work for them.
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