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The cultural landscape is a result of the continuous human actions of satisfying the communities' various needs and the response of the natural system, in its attempt to balance its components in relation to the modelling factor - the human society. Thus, the cultural landscape displays the imprint of the infinite possibilities of the human and natural joint manifestation, sometimes hazards bringing their own contribution to the shaping of the cultural landscape. Hazards, whether natural or anthropogenic, are unforeseen phenomena in terms of space or time of their manifestation, and most often have considerable negative consequences. In particular, anthropogenic hazards, which are directly or indirectly related to human activities, appear mainly as a manifestation of the resilience of natural elements in the cultural landscape, as a complex system. Thus, major interventions, such as mining in Rosia Montana area (an activity that had been lasting for over 2000 years) in relation to the unpredictable evolution of the social, economic, technological and political context (on local, national and global level) have favoured the manifestation of some unforeseen events with a negative connotation such as: complex pollution, depreciation of the living standards (in Rosia Montana area mostly due to the cessation of mining activities), demographic aging, etc. The complex analysis of these implications in the above mentioned area allows us to outline an eloquent assessment of the present state of the local cultural landscape and to identify the opportunities of systemic resilience. These include: the awareness of the planning, protection and conservation of the local historical cultural landscape as a primary need, restoration of the cultural landscape (through the aesthetic rehabilitation of degraded cultural elements), the implementation of projects that target the sustainable development of Rosia Montana, as a source of identity and sustainable development, the tourism conversion of activities, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plans to open a globally significant gold mine at Roşia Montană, in the Transylvanian region of Romania, have led to decades of controversy and struggle. This paper explores different understandings of extraction amongst advocates for and opponents of the mine over the last two decades. We discuss the shifting roles of capital, the state, civil society organizations, and the local community over time, arguing for the need to distinguish between their different positions on mining. In particular, we contend that the understanding of extraction promoted by the owners of the mine, and by the local community, is fundamentally different in terms of cultural, social, and economic priorities. The local community argue for a traditional type of mining, embedded in local ownership and established labor identities, whereas the neoliberal vision of capital for the Roşia Montană site is that of a globally competitive, technologically advanced form of extraction. In uncovering and developing these hermeneutic differences, the paper reveals that pro-traditional development attitudes among economically marginalized groups are not necessarily attuned to the material global interconnections shaping neoliberal capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the Environmental, Economic, and Social impact (EES triangle) of the mining project proposed by Roşia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC). The results show that this project is not truly favourable for Romania, taking into account that the environment would be strongly affected if technological errors occurred, and if cyanide were used to separate the gold from ore. At the same time, the number of places of work created would be for a determined period of 25 years, and the profit obtained by Romania is minimum, compared to the profit of the company. In this context, the mining project would also bring prejudices to the local archaeological site, by removing elements which could elucidate certain historical aspects from the past. Therefore, is this mining project according to the concept of sustainable development? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roşia Montana has already become famous after the conflict produced among the opponents of Roşia Montana Project, initiators of the mining project, and the ones supporting the project. After the appearance of this project, several NGOs and foundations started to promote the tourist image of Roşia Montana, emphasizing the beauty of the area, also offering alternatives for tourist development in the community. The impact of Roşia Montana over the entire region and also over the whole country is related to the mining project proposed by Roşia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), which intends to realise the surface exploitation of several mountains. Though there are many tourist objectives in the area, historic monuments, the authorities support the activities of RMGC project, neglecting the environmental protection and tourist development of the region. In this article we will present the implications that this project has for tourist development in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental impact assessment of mining sites represents nowadays a large interest topic in Romania. Historical pollution in the Rosia Montana mining area of Romania caused extensive damage to environmental media. This paper has two goals: to investigate the environmental pollution induced by mining activities in the Rosia Montana area and to quantify the environmental impacts and associated risks by means of an integrated approach. Thus, a new method was developed and applied for quantifying the impact of mining activities, taking account of the quality of environmental media in the mining area, and used as case study in the present paper. The associated risks are a function of the environmental impacts and the probability of their occurrence. The results show that the environmental impacts and quantified risks, based on quality indicators to characterize the environmental quality, are of a higher order, and thus measures for pollution remediation and control need to be considered in the investigated area. The conclusion drawn is that an integrated approach for the assessment of environmental impact and associated risks is a valuable and more objective method, and is an important tool that can be applied in the decision-making process for national authorities in the prioritization of emergency action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]