The Romanian government published the ratified mining licence for Euro Sun Mining’s Rovina Valley copper-gold project in the country’s Official Monitor, formally concluding the much delayed project licensing process.
“We are focused on moving this project forward as quickly as possible to the benefit of all stakeholders,” CEO Scott Moore said.
Despite hosting very low-grade mineralisation, Rovina Valley still constitutes one of Europe’s largest undeveloped mining projects. Euro Sun had been granted the mining licence for Rovina Valley three years ago and said in May it had been assured of ratification.
Rovina has measured and indicated resources of 7.2 million ounces of gold and 1.4 billion pounds of copper, grading 0.55 grams per tonne and 0.16% copper, respectively, and the company describes it as the second-largest gold deposit in Europe.
With the successful permitting of Rovina Valley concluded, attention once more turns to the other prominent Romania development project, Gabriel Resources’ Roşia Montană gold-silver project. Gabriel is currently arguing its case against Romania before the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes .
Gabriel has spent 17 years on permitting and development of Roşia Montanăa and filed for arbitration in July 21, 2015, contending in its nearly US$5 billion lawsuit that the Roșia Montană project met all the applicable requirements for the environmental and mining permits to be granted.
It argued the Romanian government ultimately unlawfully blocked the permitting process. The ICSID arbitration has now become the core focus of the company, but could still take years to reach resolution, casting a pall over other Romania mining investment opportunities.
There are currently six commercial disputes against Romania before the ICSID in Washinton, DC.
Source: mining-journal
