The gold mine development project, implemented by Canada’s Eldorado Gold in Certei, central Romania, through Deva Gold, has been permanently blocked by the Court of Appeal in Cluj. This upheld the Basic Court’s decision canceling the Zoning Plan (PUZ) for the entire mining project.
“This decision invalidates any approvals that Deva Gold has received from 2010 until now, based on the PUZ: from environmental agreements to building permits,” explained Roxana Pencea Bradatan, a representative of the environmental NGO Mining Watch Romania. The project, which is very harmful to the environment, has been blocked indefinitely, she added.
The PUZ for the area covered by the Certej mining project was approved by the Certej de Sus Village Council in 2010.
The court, however, found that the council had seriously violated the public consultation procedures as well as the consultation procedures with other competent authorities that needed to issue expert opinions, such as water management opinions.
The developer of the Certej mining project, in the village of Certeju de Sus, Hunedoara County, is the Canadian company Eldorado Gold (ELD), which plans to open the first surface cyanide mine in Romania.
The Certej deposit is owned by Deva Gold, a joint venture between Eldorado Gold (80%) and the state-owned company Minvest Deva (20%).
Source: romanian-insider.com
