Română
Rovina: strategic status contested! You will not mine here
Community organisations and NGOs to contest strategic status designation
EU mining ‘boom’ faces long legal battle
25 March, 2024 – Earlier today the European Commission released the first round of raw materials projects designated as strategic under the Critical Raw Material Act (CRMA). Announced were 47 proposals in the EU member states. Despite the projects’ designated role towards Europe’s resource independence and re-industrialization, a significant number of extraction projects have since long been contested by environmentalists and residents alike. In reaction to today’s decision, several NGOs and community associations from Romania, Spain, and Portugal said they will be challenging the European Commission’s strategic status designation. Contested strategic projects include major lithium projects such as Mina do Barroso (SAV) and Mina do Romano in Portugal, as well as e Rovina gold-copper project in Romania (ESM).
“The Rovina gold-copper open cast mine will destroy pristine nature and displace communities and the Commission’s designation legitimizes a project deemed illegal by courts in Romania. This is destruction, not development, and we will fight until the end. Unlike investors or governments, we have time and determination,” states Roxana Pencea-Bradatan from MiningWatch Romania.
Amidst tightening geopolitical pressure, the EU’s CRMA strives to unlock mineral partnerships with third countries and also domestic mining of metals needed for the energy transition. To achieve at least 10% of domestic production of critical minerals by 2030, strategic projects are green-lighted for overriding public interest, fast-tracked permitting and access to private and public investment. Since the drafting of the CRMA in 2023, environmental campaigners and affected communities underlined the incompatibility of the act with existing European environmental regulations such as the Habitats Directive, the Water Framework Directive and the Birds directive.
“The extraction of cheap raw materials for the automotive industry in Germany and elsewhere jeopardises our way of life. We, who live from sustainable livestock farming and depend on clean rivers and green pastures, would only experience disadvantages. The proposal is far from a Just Transition – mining in Portugal does not abide by the rules and the authorities do nothing. The four planned open-cast mines and tailings sites are neither environmentally nor socially acceptable. We will therefore formally ask the EU Commission to review its decision,” explains Nelson Gomes from the citizens’ initiative in Covas do Barroso. In the north of Portugal, the initiative is opposing the plans of British investor Savannah Resources.
“In Spain, modern mining has generated so much destruction and pollution and with it injustice, crime, corruption and suffering. The CRMA will multiply this. Strategic project status is an attempt to give legitimacy to illegal and destructive projects, while communities are undermined and turned into ‘public enemies’ by the Commission’s narrative of securitization of raw materials,” argues Joám Evans, from the Iberian Mining Observatory, a civil society watchdog for the mining industry.
