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PM Tudose on Rosia Montana: exploitation of natural resources must be done with respect for the environment by the Romanian Government
Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said on Tuesday that a middle ground should be sought in the case of Rosia Montana gold mining project, noting that he does not support gold cyanidation.
"Romania has a lot of architectural, historical and natural sites that must be very well protected. But we cannot, starting from such premise, declare all of Romania a protected area and probably return to the famous verses that we are still going begging despite the gold resources of our mountains. Let us leave the way open, maybe not now, maybe not in 5 years, maybe not in 10 years or in 20 years, but when technologies are advanced and we no longer use cyanide or huge tailings (...). But we cannot mortgage now the future of our grandchildren, not just our children. This is a debate that will have to take place," Tudose told TVR 1 public broadcaster.
He added that the exploitation of natural resources must be done with respect for the environment and, if possible, by the Romanian Government.
"I have voted myself in Parliament with two hands to ban cyanide (...) Let's see where the middle ground is, and avoid the use of extremes - we exploit everything by cyanide in one year and after us the deluge, or (...) we do not ever exploit any more in Romania (...); let's not exploit the natural resources even when we have them. No; let's do it rationally and very (...) safe environmentally and historically, if possible, (...) let us do it ourselves, not others," said Tudose.
Asked if the file under which Rosia Montana is to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List would be withdrawn, the head of the Government replied: "We have asked the ministry to explain to us what happened there, since we woke up to it on the last day."