ROŞIA MONTANĂ-ABRUD AURIFEROUS AREA AT CROSSROADS: INTENSIVE MINING EXPLOITATION VERSUS TOURISTIC CAPITALIZATION

MARIA-ADINA JURJ¹

¹Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, 400006, No. 5-7, Clinicilor Street, Cluj-Napoca, România, e-mail: adina_jurj88@yahoo.com

Abstract:-Roşia Montană-Abrud auriferous area at crossroads: intensive mining exploitation versus touristic capitalization. Roşia Montană-Abrud is a mining area located in the North-Eastern side of the Metaliferi (Metalliferous) Mountains, part of the Apuseni Mountains, and holds the biggest gold and silver ores deposit in Europe. It also belongs to the Gold (or Auriferous) Quadrilateral, an important metalliferous region which covers around 2500 km2 between Baia de Arieş-Zlatna-Săcărâmb-Ţebea. Roşia Montană, the oldest mining locality in Romania, enhanced even more its fame after the apparition of Roşia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC), a Romanian-Canadian mining company which, according to its claims, intends to exploit (even if it has-legally-only an exploration licence) the existing 300 tons of gold and 1600 tons of silver, by usind cyanide. In order to store the approximately 200 000 tons of residual cyanides, the company intends to built a huge tailings pond (about 180 m height and 800 ha ) in Corna Valley. By comparison, the Bozânta tailings pond near Baia Mare, which broke down in 2000, had only about 90 ha. On the other side, the opponents of the RMGC project aims to protect both natural and cultural heritage, which embed a richness of archaeological, historical and architectural objectivs, particularly. Also, there have been found arguments for the inscription of the area in UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. This study aims also to highlight the main types of tourism feasible for the mentioned area.

Keywords: Roşia Montană-Abrud, intensive mining, touristic capitalization

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