The offer of Canadian company Gabriel Resources to the inhabitants of Rosia Montana, to talk them into moving away from the location of the possible future gold mine, includes over 66,000 square meters of constructions, dwellings, public buildings, roads and even underground parking spaces, according to daily Romania Libera. A new mountain town would be erected instead of the old one.

Gabriel Resources representatives organized a presentation of the new town on the very site in which it is to be constructed. The architect involved in the construction of the new settlement explained that the price of a house could range between 25,000 dollars and 35,000 dollars. Alan Hill, president of Gabriel Resources, specified that 25 percent of the costs for the dwellings would be covered by the company. He also gave guarantees to those willing to move to the new town that they would have a job in the gold mining site. Gabriel Resources wants to invest 700 million dollars in the largest gold and silver deposit in Europe. Over the last six years, the project has raised controversy and scandal, as the local community was split between supporters and opponents. Gabriel Resources promises the project will boost the economy of the area and will improve the current dire environmental conditions. The large-scale, open cast cyanide gold mine proposal at Rosia Montana is setting the stage for an ecologic time bomb, according to the Web site of NGO Alburnus Maior, one of the fiercest critics of the project. Its preparation entails the destruction of five mountains, a unique cultural heritage, ten churches, 12 cemeteries and 958 farms. Locals refusing to make room for the mining project are threatened with expropriation, claim Alburnus Maior representatives.

Last week the Open Society Foundation (OSF) made public its opposition to the gold mining project in Rosia Montana, arguing it will have devastating effects on the environment and cultural vestiges in the area. "We will use all legal and civic means to prevent this project from being carried out," said a press release from the NGO signed by the organization's president, Renate Weber.

Two weeks ago, Greenpeace and Alburnus Maior asked the Ministry of Environment to stop procedures for the environmental assessment of the controversial project, arguing the new urban certificate of Gabriel Resources proved that essential parts of the project have changed.

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