Mining Watch: Gold mining project in Certeju de Sus blocked; Cluj Court cancels urban plan

The gold mining project in Certeju de Sus rural town, Hunedoara County, carried out by Deva Gold, is now blocked, as the Cluj Court canceled the zonal urban plan (PUZ) necessary for the mining works to be approved, for without the zonal urban plan there can no longer be issued the building authorization for the gold mine, claims the Mining Watch Romania organisation, in a release to AGERPRES on Monday.

"This is by far the most important step made into stopping this illegal mining project. The court showed that, if the mining project continues, it will use 1.653 tonnes of cyanide annually, while creating only 221 jobs, which is against the law. However, this is not for the first time when the mining operator violated the Romanian law. In 2014, it illegally started to organise a building site, with the court intervening at that time too, to stop the illegalities," Roxana Pencea Bradatan, founding manager of Mining Watch Romania stated, according to the same release.

The zonal urban plan for the Certej mining project, approved by the Certeju de Sus local council through the Local Council Decision 11/2010, establishes the local regulations regarding the use of the land and building of mines, tailing ponds and the related processing plant. After the cancellation of the plan, the issue of any such authorizations based on this document, such as, for instance, the issue of the building authorization, becomes impossible, according to the representatives of the non-governmental association.

They showed that the Cluj Court found that the environment authorization for this zonal urban plan was issued in violation of the legislation regarding the environment protection and, at the same time, it canceled the decision no. 11/2010, issued by the local council of the Certeju de Sus rural town.

Mining Watch Romania is a network of organisations that joins the local communities in their efforts to sop destructive, industrial mining projects.

Mining Watch monitors the approvals issued by the authorities to the benefit of the mining companies and signals the irregularities to the decision making factors in Romania and, when relevant, in the EU. Its activities include court actions and advocacy, in ensuring that the authorities correctly apply the relevant legal provisions. AGERPRES (RO - author: Sorin Blada, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)