A key commission of Romania's House of Deputies rejected on Tuesday a draft law banning the use of cyanide in mine exploitations across the country. Deputies for the governing Liberals (PNL) and Hungarian Democrats (UDMR) voted in favor of the bill but were outweighted by the negative vote of the Social Democrats (PSD), Democrats (PD) and the far-right.
If the bill survives the Parliament, it would give a decissive blow to the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, a company planning to use cyanides to dig for gold in Rosia Montana, Western Romania.
PD representatives argued their negative vote by invoking a document issued by the Environment Ministry when it was headed by a PD minister which said the Government disagreed with such a draft law.
The bill would ban mining activities using technologies based on cyanide or cyanide components.
