Save Rosia Montana & Corna Valley
Posted by Lee Wilkins | Filed under: Politics, What, When, Why
Update: Moments ago, I just received a call from Ms Stephanie Roth, the driving force behind Save Rosia Montana. She thanked me for my support in this post, with my response being, “there is plenty more where that came from”. Also, one of our commenters pointed out that Mine Your Own Business tells the other side of the story. This was 100% funded by the Rosia Montana Gold Corp. Therefore, its a one sided story from RMGC and goes to prove their ignorance.
After my article a few weeks back “History of Romania – Help Please” I came across a PBS Wide Angel Piece on Gold Futures - The Future of a Romanian Mining Town.
I was aware on a smaller scale of a Canadian corporations gold digging ploy through the father-in-laws land being one of those excavated.
But I was certainly not prepared for I was fortunate enough to have seen last night. Rosia Montana, the oldest village in Romania is being torn apart by greed. The unhealthy kind of greed, literally. They’ll use cyanide to excavate.
That and Corna Valley.
Now, you might be thinking, who gives a shit. But what lies beneath these villages is 300 tons of Gold. Or to put its another way in monetary value, €250,000,000+ (yes, million) worth of gold. Not to mention the 1,600 tons of silver.
So, not only is Romania the richest country in terms of natural reserves of water, gas, oil, and now gold, but it is always the richest in terms of history. Beneath these villages are inscriptions from the Roman’s dictating the earliest Roman Law.
To put it in more simple terms, we are one of the richest countries, across most levels, in the European Union.
I urge you to check out Save Rosia Montana and spread the word.
We are heading to Rosia Montana this week, to see how we can get involved, help preserve history, create sustainable futures, and make history.
Are you in?
(below is a Vimeo embedded player of the PBS piece (55mins in length). You can download the documentary here)
PBS – Gold Futures – Rosia Montana from Lee Wilkins on Vimeo.
tags: rosia+montana / corna+valley / gold+corp / romania / romanian+history / gold / save+rosia+montana
image source: Marius R
if you are a curious, open-mind person check the other side of the story here: http://www.mineyourownbusiness.org/
Response by nutu — 09/02/2009 / 11:03
open-minded yes, curious of course, I checked, and I also checked here too: http://www.rmgc.ro for points of reference
but when people are persuaded by €10-20k to dig up their loved ones who passed away, its on a road to failure and Save Rosia Montana has my full support
Response by Lee Wilkins — 09/02/2009 / 11:08
Lee,
As in every story, there are various points of view. If you speak with the people in the area, you will understand that they need a job to support their families and kids. And mining is what they have been doing for the last 2.000 years.
Also, there are ways to do this project right – to preserve the environment, the history and all the others.
It has been done in your England, in Austria, in Australia and it can be done in Romania.
Response by m — 09/02/2009 / 20:53
@ Mihai
I understand the need for a living, to support their families.
There is the right way and the wrong way. RMGC chose the wrong way. They are not preserving the environment nor history.
History is not digging up the dead, and relocating them, history is not caving in the old mining tunnels with inscriptions with the original Roman Law, and history is certainly not preserved by way of overcasting and using cyanide.
In the UK, Austria, Australia and the USA, they do it the right way.
RMGC are exploiting the fact that it takes a few bribes here and there to capitalize on a €250m fortunate beneath the hills of RM
Response by Lee Wilkins — 11/02/2009 / 09:55
It’s been great pleasure and hard work few years back joining a young team to stand for Rosia Montana and its preservation.
We later passed the baton, but my heart still beats for those places and the awesome people!
Response by Dan — 11/02/2009 / 23:35
@nutu, Mine Your Own Business was fully paid for by the RMGC.
Response by Lee Wilkins — 11/02/2009 / 23:35
[...] mentioned in my post last week, we headed to Rosia Montana to find out more about the town, research the area, and see how we can [...]
Pingback by Forget Milk » Trip to Rosia Montana — 17/02/2009 / 16:21
Hi, I live in Rosia Montana region and all my life I had in front of my house a big stockpile of mining waste, you can’t imagine how it was to live in those conditions for over 20 years and to have to live with it (because nothing could be done). I am simply horrified by the perspective of this project and what will it mean for the region from the environment perspective and human health perspective on the long term, there’s no compare to what will that mean. I don’t know who ever thought of that and who ever will before accepting this project, our politicians are so corrupt that they don’t give a damn about anything else but themselves. So even though we still are a few people who stand against the project, without political will it’s like fighting with windmills.
Thank you for taking action on this issue!!!
Response by Alex — 04/06/2009 / 12:14
Hi,
I am trying to find the source of the photo of Rosia Montana you posted; do you have any information on? I am working on a story on the gold mine and am looking for great photos like this and protest photos.
Thank you,
Jane
Response by Jane Yeomans — 19/08/2010 / 19:55