EIA Community Engagement for Rosia Montana
Rosia Montana Gold Mine Project managing community engagement program
Rosia Montana is a community of sixteen villages located in a district known as the Golden Quadrilateral, in the South Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, Romania. The Golden Quadrilateral has been one of Europe’s most prolific mining districts for over 2000 years, and the project needed to be managing its community engagement program through a software that understood its needs.
The Rosia Montana concession area, which affects just four of these villages, was subject to open pit mining by the state mining company, Minvest, until 2006 when state funded mining operations were required to close in the lead up to European Union accession. Following the closure of the mine with the loss of thousands of jobs, unemployment is reported to be over 80% in the region.
As a result of historical mining activities, abandoned waste dumps and tailings ponds scar the Rosia Montana area leaving an environmental legacy with high levels of metals including zinc, iron, arsenic, lead and cadmium currently discharged, untreated, into local streams, soils and water.
Legacy from historic mining at Rosia Montana. Source: Gabriel Resources
Since obtaining the rights to the Roşia Montană Project, Gabriel Resources has pursued its development as a new, modern and environmentally aware open pit operation with a production of approximately 500,000 ounces of gold per annum over a 16 year mine life. The Project could generate over $500 million in revenues per year, sustaining hundreds of direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs and reinvigorating the regional economy.
Community Engagement for EIA Process
Under Romanian law, an EIA Report must be prepared for a project of the size and scale of the Rosia Montana Project. The EIA Report for the Project was developed by a team of independent experts. The report analyzes all the aspects of the development, from the construction phase, going through the operational phase, mine closure and environmental rehabilitation, to the post-closure phase.
A community engagement program was undertaken as part of the EIA process.
Darzin was used to manage the complex stakeholder relations in planning this mining project. Data from many years of detailed stakeholder engagement activities was imported into Darzin to give the team access to the wealth of historical information. Going forward the team had a sophisticated tool for sending out information, recording communications (in Romanian and English) and sharing information across the team both in Romania and Canada. Managing the community engagement program became effective and efficient with the use of Darzin.