Romania won arbitration over the Rosia Montana Mining Project

Arbitration

Romania’s governing has informed that it has won an arbitration case filed by Gabriel Resources before the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). LDDP which represented the Romania government informed on Sunday that the company has initially filed for financial compensation (6.12 billion EUR including interests ) from Romania for its unsuccessful gold-mining project (Rosia Montana). The Company has now to reimburse the costs of the arbitration procedure. ICSID will publish a detailed explanation of its decision in the next 20 days. Gabriel Resources is now obliged to reimburse the costs related to the arbitration procedure.

Rosia Montana Mining Project

Initially, Gabriel Resources gained a license for the Rosia Montana gold and silver mine project in 1999. In 2013 environmentalists, civil rights groups and local communities started the national protest against the mining project. The main apprehension was related to the potential technology (application of cyanides) and influence of exploitation on both land (four quarries would destroy four mountain peaks) and heritage (ancient Roman mine galleries would be destroyed). Finally, the project was blocked in 2014. If the project has acceptance the Romanian government would have a 20% stake in it.

Proceeding

After the ruling Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated: “The Romanian government salutes this decision and thanks everyone involved in defending the interests of the Romanian state.”

The LDDP public statement summarizes the long-term proceeding: “This decision brings an end to arbitration proceedings that were initiated by Gabriel Resources in July 2015. In the course of the arbitration, the parties exchanged over 25 submissions and attended two main hearings, one between 2 and 13 December 2019, which dealt with liability, and between 28 September and 4 October 2020, which focused on technical and quantum issues”

The decision is final. Romania during the arbitration case was represented by a legal consortium that consisted: LALIVE and LDDP.