The crater looming above the town.
Posted on 04/29/2013 5:18:36 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
As the sovereign debt crisis grips the Continent, governments have become increasingly responsive to the mining companies' proposals to tap gold reserves. In recent years, environmental regulations, local opposition and high costs have mostly kept foreign mining companies away. Recently, though, much of Europe has seen what Theodota Nantsu of the WWF calls "an avalanche of regulation rollback."
Since last year, the Portuguese government has signed 95 separate contracts with mining companies, with the priority given to gold and silver. The Greek government's opening up gold deposits to a Canadian company sparked violent protests. In Bulgaria and Turkey, gold mining has grown exponentially since mining laws were recently liberalized.
"For governments, it's a case of beggars can't be choosers ... If you need to raise revenue for your country, then mining is a very good way to do it as you are essentially digging for cash."
In Romania, the extractable gold buried beneath the small Transylvanian town of Rosia Montana is estimated to be worth, at today's prices, somewhere close to €16 billion ($20.8 billion), making it the largest known gold deposit in Europe and third largest worldwide. The mine would inject $4 billion into the Romanian economy and create 3,600 jobs. Despite this, most Romanians stand against it and, after 16 years of planning, the mine remains unopened.
Beneath the Rosia Montana lie the Roman mining galleries that, for over 100 years, brought gold of unprecedented quantities back to Rome. Across the valley, a huge crater looms over the town, the scar of Ceausescu's scramble for gold that went on for three decades until it was closed as an environmental precondition for Romania joining the European Union. "Gold is what built this town ... Now, if they get their way, it will be what destroys it as well."
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
>> The Greek government’s opening up gold deposits to a Canadian company sparked violent protests.
The SUN rising in the morning sparks violent protests in Greece.
Gold will out!
Look at all the recent excavation around the pyramids of Egypt.
Without the resources to to secure it, someone will get, some how.
The crater looming above the town.
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