By Eric Reguly
Toronto Globe and Mail
Gabriel Resources Ltd. will sue the Romanian government for billions of dollars if parliament next week votes to kill the Canadian company’s Rosia Montana mine, Europe’s biggest gold mining project.
“If the lower house [of parliament] does reject the project, we will go ahead with formal notification to commence litigation for multiple breaches of international investment treaties for up to $4-billion (U.S.),” CEO Jonathan Henry said in an interview Wednesday morning from London, where he is based. “Our case is very strong and we will make it very public that Romania’s effort to attract foreign investment will suffer greatly.”
Mr. Henry said he expected the government’s upper house, the senate, to reject on Tuesday draft legislation that would allow the mine to open. But any decision, for or against, would not be binding unless the bill also goes to a vote in the much more powerful lower house, the chamber of deputies.