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19. 06. 12. - 15:00

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19. 06. 12. - 15:00

Maia Morgenstern campaings against gold mine at Rosia Montana in aggressive commercial

Michael Leidig

Maia Morgenstern,who played Mary in Mel Gibson's "The Passions of the Christ" is campaigning against the gold mine exploitation with cyanides in Rosia Montana (Western Romania)in an aggressive awareness campaign, Adevarul newspaper informs today (Tues).

"A man is worth more than the gold he wears", is the motto of the campaign who pleads for the preservation of the environment in Rosia Montana, an area under UNESCO protection.

The commercial already gathered 237,000 hits on youtube since it was posted, on Sunday.

The director of the commercial Robert Tiderle from Papaya Advertising company, said that the gold is not the only thing in Rosia Montana worth exploiting.

"It takes only to visit rosiamontana.org, and the people will learn that in Rosia  Montana there are people, houses, memories, history. Does anyone know that Rosia Montana is the first attested loyalty in Romania? Does this place need cyanide?", the director said.

The gold mine project at Rosia Montana has stirred up a lot of controversy in Romania, with civil society and environment activists warning that the use of cyanide would destroy the area.

More recently, on the back of the economic crisis and rising unemployment, the mining project has gained more support. According to a study, carried out in February, 82 per cent of Romanians allegedly supported the mining operations at Rosia Montana.

According to the National Agency for Mineral Resources, the Rosia Montana gold reserves are estimated to be 300 tonnes, while the total gold reserves of the country are put at some 700 tonnes.

The company which plans to extract 300 tonnes of gold and 1,600 tonnes of silver from Rosia Montana is owned by Canadian Gabriel Resources (80 per cent), while the Romanian state holds only a 20 per cent stake. The company still awaits environment certificates to start digging for gold, but all environment ministers so far had been reluctant to give their approval to the project.

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