Gabriel Resources

Gabriel Resources is a Canadian based mining company which is solely focused on attempting to develop a gold mine in Rosia Montana in Romania. The project, the largest undeveloped gold deposit in Europe, is owned through Rosia Montana Gold Corporation S.A. (RMGC), a Romanian Company in which Gabriel holds an 80.69 per cent stake with the balance held by CNCAF Minvest S.A., a Romanian state-owned mining enterprise.

The company has met stiff opposition from some locals and from international environmental groups including Greenpeace and the Open Society Foundation. In response the company has engaged in a variety of advertising, public relations, lobbying and corporate social responsibility activities.

History

According to the New York Times:

Gabriel Resources was born in the breakup of the state-owned economy after Communism’s collapse when Romanian businessmen with little mining experience and suspected ties to the former secret police won a vast concession to exploit mineral deposits. In 2005 it was reported that Frank Timis boss of Gabriel Resources and Regal an oil company that:

Timis had also managed to attract a team of top City advisers: Evolution is one of a new breed of advisory firms and one of London's most active outfits. He was also advised by one of the City's largest law firms, Weil Gotshal & Manges, and by Buchanan, a financial public- relations company.

The campaign against the mine

According to the New York Times:

Mr. David’s opposition might have withered had it not been for an ill-advised plan to build a Dracula theme park near the picturesque Romanian town of Sighisoara, once home to Vlad Dracula, the notorious Romanian ruler and inspiration for “Dracula,” the Bram Stoker novel. Prince Charles of Britain, fond of Romania’s old Saxon villages, was outraged. So was Teddy Goldsmith, the aging anti-globalist environmentalist and scion of a wealthy business family. A Swiss-born environmental journalist named Stephanie Roth, who wrote for Mr. Goldsmith’s magazine, The Ecologist, moved to Romania to help defeat the project. With such powerful forces aligned against it, the theme park for Sighisoara died. While in Romania, Ms. Roth heard about the Gabriel Resources’ plan for Rosia Montana and went to meet Mr. David in April 2002. Within months, she had introduced him to some of the most powerful environmental organizations in the world. In 2003 Gabriel Resources reported:

Gabriel has also continued to add depth and breadth to its management team in Romania… Additional financial, permitting, construction and public relations personnel have been added in Romania, including … Mr. Adrian Dascalu as public relations manager.

People

• Frank Timis

Contact

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Resources

• [Gabriel Resources wants Romania to move quickly on new generic mining law