Gabriel Resources requests the continuation of the Roşia Montană project

The Canadian company Gabriel Resources, although it does not have the liquidity to pay the Romanian state court costs, in the amount of 10 million dollars, established by the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes attached to the World Bank (ICSID), states that it wants to continue the project from Roşia Montană and sent a notification to the Government and President Klaus Iohannis, after the National Agency for Mineral Resources refused to extend its gold and silver ore exploitation license for that project.

The representatives of Gabriel Resources threaten the Romanian state that they will request international mediation again if the authorities do not grant them a 5-year extension in the next 90 days.

A press release issued by the Canadian company states: "The company considers that this unjustified and arbitrary decision, contrary to Romanian legislation, represents a new flagrant violation by Romania of the rule of law and the established investment rights of the Group, protected by multiple bilateral investment treaties. The timing of this decision, only 3 months after the conclusion of the company's ICSID arbitration against Romania, strongly confirms a calculated and politically motivated decision to irrevocably prevent Gabriel and RMGC from developing the Roşia Montană gold and silver project without a fair trial or fair compensation'.

The National Agency for Mineral Resources rejected the request to extend the exploitation license from Roşia Montană on June 20, 2024. ANRM announced that it had analyzed the submitted documentation and that following the evaluation it had decided "not to extend the validity of the concession license for the exploitation of gold ores -silver deposits from the perimeter of Roşia Montană, no. 47/1999, approved by HG no. 458/10.06.1999, holder Roşia Montană Gold Corporation".

We remind you that on March 8, 2024, ICSID rejected, with a majority of 2 to 1, the request submitted in 2015 by Gabriel Resources and Roşia Montană Gold Corporation, through which the two companies requested compensation of 6.7 billion dollars, because the Romanian state - would have expropriated the investment through several acts of the administrative authorities, including through the politicization of the mining project authorization procedure. In justifying the decision, the ICSID judges stated that the Romanian state did not abuse its powers and that the Parliament's rejection of the draft law on gold mining in Roşia Montană was not politically influenced. The magistrates also noted that the inclusion of the Roşia Montană area in the UNESCO heritage was not unreasonable.

By the same decision, Gabriel Resources and RMGC were obliged to pay the Romanian state 10 million dollars as court costs, a payment that was not made because the liquidity of the two companies amounts to a total of only 2 million dollars. The representatives of Gabriel Resources challenged the ICSID decision within the legal term and obtained in court the suspension of the arbitration decision until the resolution of the submitted appeal.