Recently I was in a flight from Cluj-Napoca to Munich. The flight path, after taking off from Cluj-Napoca airport, goes over the city and over the road to Oradea.
I was on the left side on the plane, and after we passed over Gilau and Transylvania highway, I saw a bright colorful lake on the horizon. I took several pictures, whithout knowing what I was seeing.
Later on, when I downloaded the pictures on my computer, I realized it was Geamăna, Valea Şesii lake which served as depot for the steril extracted from Roşia Poieni open pit copper mine. Because of the rain water, it transformed in a red lake, which now can be seen from far away (I was at a distance of over 70 km when I took the pictures). If you want to have a closer look at the ecological disaster, please take a look at these impressive images published by Mediafax. Please note that the existing lake does not contain cyanide. It was a copper mine, not a gold mine.
In the next image you can also see, on the right side, the existing open pit from the Roşia Poieni copper mine. The open pit is “just” 1 km in diameter.
Then I realized these are minor compared to the size of proposed cyanide mining project in Roşia Montană. If the existing open pit and lake are visible from an airplane, the proposed open pit will be visible from the Moon. Please take a look at these images (maps courtesy of Google).
The first picture shows the size of the proposed project, compared to the existing open pit and steril lake.
Under the proposed project:
- 4 mountains will be destroyed and a crater, 8 km in diameter (5 miles wide) and 400 meter deep, will be created. In comparison this is the size of Cluj-Napoca.
- 13000 tones of concentrated cyanide will be used in the project.
- A dam will be built, 180 meter high, containing 200000 cubic meters of toxic cyanide waters . This will create a very high ecological danger.
Note: The above areas are estimated, based on the public information about the project available on the Internet.
If you live in Cluj-Napoca, and feel that you are at a safe distance, think again! Cluj-Napoca is less than 70 km (45 miles) from Rosia Montana, and the Belis and Tarnita lakes – from which Cluj-Napoca draws its drinking water – are even closer (40 km from the mining site).
I am strongly against this project. I don’t want a cyanide lake 70 km from my home!
I demand that the Parlament must vote against the proposed changes to mining law and against the project. Even more, I demand that the Parlament must pass a law prohibiting the use of cyanide in mining!
Later edit: The Government is trying to pass the legislation changes previously included in the special law for Roşia Montana project (which was rejected by the Senate) as amendments to the existing mining law. This will open the door to other dangerous mining projects, such the one proposed in Certej, Hunedoara, or the processing factory in Baia Mare. Please read this press release from Alburnus Maior, an NGO fighting against the project.
Later edit, Dec 3, 2013: The amendments for the mining law were rejected by the Senate. However the Deputy Chamber is the decisional forum.
Read the new Alburnus Maior press release on the current situation.
Read the Think Outside the Box article on the conflict regarding shale gas extraction using fracking. At Pungesti, gendarmes used force on villagers protesting against Chevron.
Later edit: On Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013 The Chamber of Deputies rejected the amendments to the mining law! Next objective is to pass legislation to prohibit the use of cyanide in mining.
- Alburnus Maior: Romania’s parliament rejects amendments to Romania’s mining law to kick-start Rosia Montana
- Mining.com: Romanian parliament rejects mining reforms
- Yahoo: New setback for Canadian gold mine plan
- Reuters: Romania parliament rejects new mining framework
- The Washington Post: Romania: lawmakers again reject Canadian project
- Independent.co.uk: Romanian parliament rejects mining law
- Alburnus Maior: Press conference on the abusive and unconstitutional provisions to modify the mining law
Note to readers: Freedom of speech is warranted by the Romanian Constitution. The content of this article represents my personal opinions. The responsibility for the content of the linked articles belongs to their authors.