Baita Craciunesti - Mining Watch Romania

Name of mining area: area Baita Craciunesti, Teascu deposit (1) Location: outside the built-up areas of Fizeş locality, on the administrative territory of Băiţa and Certeju de Sus communes, Hunedoara Licence issuance date: under approval process No. 14117/ 05.2011Project holder 2013: Deva Gold SA Shareholders: Eldorado Gold (80%) (by it’s subsidiary Deva Gold Barbados Ltd.) and Minvest Deva (<20%) Data on the deposit: 50 tons of gold Project permitting stage: preparation of PUZ (Regional Urban Planning)

Baita Craciunesti project – general aspects Băiţa locality lies in the north of Hunedoara county, at the base of Metaliferi Mountains, 25 km distant from Deva city and 24 km distant from Brad town. Băiţa commune covers 11,139 ha and includes 11 villages, totalling 3,582 inhabitants. The specific activities in the area are animal farming and agriculture. The mining area is located outside the built-up area of Barbura village, Băiţa commune, on a land with forest vegetation, pastures and meadow lands under state ownership. The exploration area lies within the NATURA 2000 site ROSPA 0132– Special Avifauna Protection Area Metaliferi Mountains. The site is characterised by two major groups of habitat: open lands and forests. According to the analysis performed by professors of the Academy for Economic Studies in Bucharest, Gabriel Resources purchased in 1999 two projects, Bolcana and Băiţa-Crăciuneşti, holding thus 6 projects in the Golden Quadrilateral of Romania at that time: Rosia Montana, Bucium, Certej, Zlatna, Baita, Craciunesti, Bolcana. The same year Deva Gold was awarded the exploration license as operator of the Băiţa-Crăciuneşti project. In February 2000, Gabriel announced the company restructuring and the splitting of the existing project portfolio to two separate companies, Gabriel Resources and European Goldfields. The latter was allocated the Certej, Zlatna, Bolcana and Băiţa-Crăciuneşti projects.

In September 2003, European Goldfields performed the first exploration boreholes for obtaining a geological profile of Băiţa. In an interview at the national television in August 2011, president Traian Băsescu, in the context of his support to the Roşia Montană mining project, said that two more gold mining operations would be opened in Romania, operated by Romanian state companies. „We have two deposits: one of 50 tonnes and the other of 54 tonnes of gold”, said the president, without giving any other details. The ANRM president, Alexandru Pătruţi, stated for Mediafax that there is a gold mining license for Certej area in Hunedoara county and another one under the approval process for Băiţa Crăciuneşti – he supposed it was these two licenses that the state president was referring to in the interview on TVR. The exploration activities continued in 2012, Eldorado Gold allocating 3,9 million dollars for these works. “The boreholes are planned for both extensions of the Certej deposit, as well as for satellite objectives related to the exploration licenses in surrounding areas. Exploration boreholes are also planned for objectives in Măgura and Teascu regions and Certej Nord, all of these being located about 5 km west and north-west from the Certej deposit”, shows Eldorado’s press release.

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Mining is therefore an industry with an extremely high stake for public policies and financial markets, but particularly for the directly affected communities and ecosystems. While the industry highlights its capacity to generate wealth and the use of modern technologies, the responsibility for the risks, costs and liabilities generated has never been fully assumed. The industry’s domination in the area of public policies prevented a change of the status-quo, and the local communities’ voice remains marginal in the public discourse. The shift of mining companies’ interest from large investment projects to smaller but more numerous projects has a major impact upon local communities, with public attention being thus dissipated in many directions and the permitting procedures being simplified.

Approval stages for the mining project of Baita Craciunesti, Teascu deposit.