Saving Rosia Montana: it is now or never!

Saving Rosia Montana: it is now or never!

Mihaela Firsirotu, Ph. D.

A new coalition of Romanians from all over the world is circulating the attached PETITION against the development of the Rosia Montana Mining Project by Gabriel Resources/Rosia Montana Gold Corporation.

As you may know, the project has been stalled for almost three years due to a number of administrative and legal actions in the Romanian courts by a number of Romanian and international NGO’s opposed to the project. Recently, the Romanian Authorities, including the Supreme Court of Romania, have signalled their firm intent to accelerate the approval process. Several hurdles have already been cleared.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Ministry of Environment to issue the dam safety permits and a new Urbanism Certificate has been issued. Recently, the Minister of the Environment declared to the press that the project is close to final approval…The last obstacle is for Gabriel Resources/Rosia Montana Gold Corporation to obtain an Archaeological Discharge Certificate from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

 Thus, the purpose of this petition, which is:

Ø   To ask the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Romania to refuse to issue a new Archaeological Discharge Certificate to Gabriel Resources/RMGC, as a replacement for the Certificate Nr.4, which was annulled irrevocably by the Romanian Courts. This certificate must not be issued if Rosia Montana is to be saved!

Ø  To ask the Romanian Authorities, including the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage to ask UNESCO to declare Alburnus Maior at Rosia Montana as a World Heritage Site. This is not a pie in the sky! Here is the official statement of UNESCO’s relevant organization (the International Council on Monuments and Sites) regarding the Roman site of Alburnus Maior at Rosia Montana : “an outstanding mining settlement and cultural landscape in Romania, as a potential World Heritage Site”. (October 2008);

Furthermore UNESCO has urged the Romanian Authorities “to protect the site,” and “to collaborate with its various relevant organizations to evaluate the significance of the site of Rosia Montana as a cultural landscape and its archaeological, architectural and ethnographic heritage together with its spiritual values in the context of the cultural heritage of Europe and the world”.

And last, but not least, as Prof.Dr. Ioan Marza, an international authority in geology and on the Rosia Montana’s geoarchaeological treasures, writes: “acordarea avizului de exploatare  ar fi o greseala catastrofica, deoarece in inconstienta noastra, ne-am distruge cel mai de pret argument istoric al latinitatii poporului roman, ilustrat prin lucrari miniere bine conservate(subterane si de suprafata), datate ca fiind de peste 2000 de ani…(galerii romane trapezoidale sapate cu dalta si ciocanul)”[1] 

.

As Romanians and citizens of this world, we cannot be deaf to this call!

If you want to try to save Rosia Montana before it is too late, to see it protected and declared a World Heritage Site, I urge you to register your support by visiting:    http://sites.google.com/site/aurulnostru/home/afaceri-interne/actiuni/petitie    

                                 Or

http://www.petitieonline.ro/petitie-p60566048.html

Please act as soon as possible and circulate the petition to your Romanian friends and acquaintances.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. WE HAVE TO ACT NOW!

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[1] Source: Rosia Montana –Panteonul Istoriei Neamului Romanesc, 22 Martie, 2010, www.cotidianul.ro.