Gabriel Resources axes 367 jobs in Romania over ‘long delays’ in approval of Rosia Montana mining project

Newsroom 01/04/2014 | 16:14

Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), the miner controlled by Canada-based Gabriel Resources, said on Tuesday it was cutting jobs and scrapping local assistance programs as it seeks to scale back operations in response to ‘unjustifiably long delays’ in the approval of the gold and silver mining project at Rosia Montana.

The company said that 1,000 families will lose their source of income following this move. Aside from 367 employees that are directly employed by RMGC, more than 100 jobs in social programs financed by RMGC will be lost due to the scale back program. It added that over 300 jobs at companies providing goods and services in Rosia Montana, in the Apuseni Mountain and Alba County will be lost and that 283 beneficiaries of the social program conducted by RMGC in Rosia Montana will lose their support.

“Unfortunately, instead of employing thousands of people as we were preparing to start building the mine, we now have to make 80 percent of our employees redundant in an area where unemployment is very high and where there are no viable alternatives. (…) We have designed a state-of-the-art mine that strictly observes Romanian and European Union legislation, we are keeping our equipment waiting in the warehouse and we are ready to implement the mining project in Rosia Montana, said Dragos Tanase, the miner’s managing director in a statement.

RMGC said the Rosia Montana faces a future marked by “degradation and depopulation” due to the blocked mining project and the lack of other investments.

“The company hopes this restructuring process to be a temporary measure, until the government approves the mining project, which will allow RMGC to hire thousands of people,” said the miner in a statement.

Gabriel Resources has been seeking to permit the mining project for the last 15 years but successive governments have avoided to make a decision. At present, the project is stuck in Parliament without any clear timeline regarding its debate.

The company said the open pit at Rosia Montana would generate USD 24 billion in direct and indirect benefits for the country and create thousands of jobs.

Ovidiu Posirca

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