23 January 2006
Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water "silently denied" Canadian mining company gold mining development.
A controversial EUR 50 million gold mining development being promoted by a Canadian mining company in south-east Bulgaria has failed to gain a seal of approval from the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water. On Friday last week in the Bulgarian parliament the Minister of Environment and Water, Dzhevdet Chakarov, confirmed a “silent denial” decision on the Krumovgrad gold project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA). Dundee Precious Metals is seeking the go-ahead from the Bulgarian authorities as well as substantial financial backing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for a project which has attracted strenuous opposition from local communities and from communities across the border in Greece.
The parliament session on the Krumovgrad gold project occurred as a result of questions lodged by Green representatives of the European Parliament. The written question from the Verts/ALE grouping expressed concerns about the risks of open-mine gold extraction in the area of East Rodolphi mountains, a region with an extremely large biological diversity, and about jeopardising the commitments made under the Eruopean Landsacpe Convention and the Habitats Directive ratified by Bulgaria.
The “silent denial” decision of the Ministry of Environment and Water reflects the opposition of local residents in Krumovgrad. The local municipal council in Krumovgrad unanimously decided in September 2005 to oppose the controversial and extremely unpopular gold mine. Furthermore, local citizens, authorities and environmental NGOs from the Greek regions of Evros and Rhodopi have protested strongly against the prospects of transboundary pollution from the planned gold mine site downstream of the rivers Arda and Maritsa.
Fidanka Bacheva, of Za Zemiata/CEE Bankwatch Network, said: “At this stage we are glad about the denial to the Krumovgrad gold project but we would like to see an official negative decision. We plan to continue the campaign until the East Rhodopi mountains receive a nature protection status which will guarantee the sustainable and cyanide-free development of the region.”
In December last year Dundee Precious Metals complained about the delayed decision on the project. The Chief Operations Officer and Executive Director of the company's branches in Bulgaria, Laurence Marsland, said that the company expects a strict implementation of the legislation, which requires “either a positive or a negative decision.”