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Environmental protection or subversion in mining? Planning challenges, perspectives and actors at the largest gold deposit in Europe

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  • Ştefănescu, Lucrina
  • Alexandrescu, Filip

Abstract

The gold ores in Roşia Montană have been intensely mined for the last two thousand years, as this mining district was one of the richest gold deposits in the Apuseni Mountains (the so-called Golden Quadrangle of Romania). Itis currently considered the largest gold deposit in Europe. Up until a few decades ago, gold mines had a relatively predictable path, which began with exploration and ended with abandonment. This has since changed, once the impact of abusive past or current exploitation methods and technologies has been deemed unacceptable by the state and the public. With its millennia-old history of mining, Roșia Montană raises the intriguing question of what does the future hold for different actors in a situation that is clearly unsustainable, but which may be continued through environmental rehabilitation, or even a larger mine. We address the question for this particular mine by drawing on a worldwide database of similar cases contained in the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas). We consider three scenarios, namely: 1) continued degradation with no intervention; 2) approval of large-scale mining, due to international arbitration; 3) environmental rehabilitation. These capture the most plausible future scenarios of the Roșia Montană case and, by relating them to the relevant transnational environmental justice context, we aim at assessing their implications for different actors and also the extent to which they are illustrative for the fate of other mines worldwide. Mine closure and the rehabilitation of the environment, regardless how distant they may seem at the beginning of the prospection and extraction stage, are imminent in the mine life cycle and a mandatory step of the environmental management process. We conclude by suggesting under which governance regimes each scenario is likely to unfold and what implications can be drawn for public policy.

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  • Ştefănescu, Lucrina & Alexandrescu, Filip, 2020. "Environmental protection or subversion in mining? Planning challenges, perspectives and actors at the largest gold deposit in Europe," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:95:y:2020:i:c:s026483771831130x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.10.011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anthony Bebbington & Jeffrey Bury & Denise Humphreys Bebbington & Jeannet Lingan & Juan Pablo Muñoz & Martin Scurrah, 2008. "Mining and social movements: struggles over Mining and social movements: struggles over livelihood and rural territorial development in the Andes," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 3308, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    2. Adriana Mihai & Adina Marincea & Love Ekenberg, 2015. "A MCDM Analysis of the Roşia Montană Gold Mining Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-28, June.
    3. Aires, Uilson Ricardo Venâncio & Santos, Bismarck Soares Matos & Coelho, Clívia Dias & da Silva, Demetrius David & Calijuri, Maria Lúcia, 2018. "Changes in land use and land cover as a result of the failure of a mining tailings dam in Mariana, MG, Brazil," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 63-70.
    4. Filip Alexandrescu, 2011. "GOLD AND DISPLACEMENT IN EASTERN EUROPE: RISKS AND UNCERTAINTY AT ROŞIA MONTANĂ (English version)," Revista Romana de Sociologie, Revista Romana de Sociologie - actualizata si mentinuta de Editura Lumen/ Romanian Journal of Sociology, vol. 1, pages 78-107.
    5. Mudd, Gavin M., 2007. "Global trends in gold mining: Towards quantifying environmental and resource sustainability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 42-56.
    6. Conesa, Hector M. & Schulin, Rainer & Nowack, Bernd, 2008. "Mining landscape: A cultural tourist opportunity or an environmental problem: The study case of the Cartagena-La Union Mining District (SE Spain)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 690-700, February.
    7. Bebbington, Anthony & Humphreys Bebbington, Denise & Bury, Jeffrey & Lingan, Jeannet & Muñoz, Juan Pablo & Scurrah, Martin, 2008. "Mining and Social Movements: Struggles Over Livelihood and Rural Territorial Development in the Andes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2888-2905, December.
    8. Prno, Jason & Scott Slocombe, D., 2012. "Exploring the origins of ‘social license to operate’ in the mining sector: Perspectives from governance and sustainability theories," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 346-357.
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    1. Azadi, Hossein & Petrescu, Dacinia Crina & Petrescu-Mag, Ruxandra Malina & Ozunu, Alexandru, 2020. "Special issue: Environmental risk mitigation for sustainable land use development," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Camelia Botezan & Veronica Constantin & Monika Meltzer & Andrei Radovici & Alina Pop & Filip Alexandrescu & Lucrina Stefanescu, 2020. "Is There Sustainable Development after Mining? A Case Study of Three Mining Areas in the Apuseni Region (Romania)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-20, November.

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