Gabriel Resources Hits Snag at Rosia Montana Project

AFP reported that Gabriel Resources Ltd. (TSX:GBU) has hit a fresh setback in the development of its Rosia Montana gold-silver project in Romania.
According to Adrian Balteanu, the Romanian culture ministry’s adviser on cultural heritage, the Rosia Montana village has been declared a “historic site of national interest,” meaning that “all mining activity is prohibited there.”
As quoted in the market news:

The step is a new blow for Canada’s Gabriel Resources which has been trying for 15 years to get an environment ministry permit to extract 300 tonnes of gold from the picturesque village in a project it claims would create hundreds of jobs and boost Romania’s economy.
But experts say the project, which would use thousands of tonnes of cyanide, would pose a pollution risk, level four mountains in a historic area of western Transylvania and would also damage Roman-era mining shafts.
The plans have sparked widespread anger, bringing tens of thousands of people onto the streets in a scale of protest not seen in Romania since the 1990s.
Activists hailed the decision to declare the village a protected area.
“The culture ministry has finally decided to protect our cultural heritage,” said history professor Ioan Piso, one of the main opponents of the project.

Click here to read the full AFP report.