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Mining Company Out Maneuvering Responbility
BUCHAREST, Romania, March 16 (UPI) -- The Australian company that caused
the cyanide poisoning of rivers in Romania may have deliberately gone
into receivership to avoid paying compensation, a Romanian official said
Thursday.
Gabriel Dumitrascu of the Environment Ministry told reporters her
government is concerned, as Romania "suffered more than any other
country" from the spill. She asked Esmeralda Exploration officials to
clarify their motives.
The head of the Hungarian Parliament's environmental protection committee
backed the demand. Zoltan Illes said the company -- which owns 50 percent
of the Baia Mare gold tailings mine, along with Romanian state firm Remin
-- went into what is known as "voluntary administration" this week, a
first step toward bankruptcy.
The Sidney Morning Herald in Australia reported Thursday that the
Perth-based company went into receivership because they were unclear on
the company's liability exposure as a result of the Jan. 30 spill. The
disaster affected rivers across large sections of the Danube water system
in Eastern Europe.
Officials speculated that Esmeralda might be trying to avoid paying
multimillion-dollar compensation claims. Illes said, "This is just a
trick on their side to not pay compensation." He said that if the company
refuses to pay up, Hungary will pursue the company's financial backers
through the international courts.
A spokesman for Esmeralda's receivership administrators, Hall Chadwick,
told the BBC on Thursday that no compensation claims have been filed,
although several have been threatened
Administrator Kim Strickland told the BBC the company was not attempting
to avoid paying compensation. "Some people have said the company is
trying to hide from its responsibility, but it's the opposite -- we're
trying to bring it to a head," Strickland said.
Esmeralda Exploration has repeatedly denied responsibility for the spill.
The company has also claimed that reports on the extent of the damage
were "grossly exaggerated" and "defied scientific logic."
A spill from a Romanian mine last month disgorged cyanide-contaminated
water into the rivers of central Europe, triggering a massive fish kill.
Since then, there have been two other toxic spills into Romanian river
waters, with an impact on Ukraine, Hungary and other nations of Eastern
Europe.
Romanian authorities on Wednesday acknowledged a fresh toxic spill into
rivers leading to the Danube, notably, the Tisza.
Romania's Novat mine, in Baia-Borsa, admitted responsibility for spilling
zinc, lead and copper into the Tisza this week.
A Ukrainian emergency services official, Olexandre Gontcharenko, alleged
that "the level of pollution is four times higher than it should be."
A Hungarian government spokesman said Thursday, "We would not be
exaggerating if we said part of the water plants and animals are facing a
slow death." Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
HUNGARIAN COMMISSIONER VISITS SITE OF CYANIDE SPILL
Government Commissioner Janos Gonczy on 13 July visited the Romanian Aurul
mining company, which caused the cyanide spill into Hungary's Tisza River
in January, and said he is not convinced that the present conditions there
are technically safe. Gonczy requested the visit after recent reports said
Aurul has resumed operating using the same technology under which the
spill occurred. Romanian authorities claimed that Aurul has been given a
license only for test runs and that the plant is working at 30-70 percent
capacity in a trial that will continue through September. After his
fact-finding visit, Gonczy noted that major earthworks have been carried
out to restore the dike around the reservoir, Hungarian media reported.
MSZ RFE
HUNGARY RESERVES RIGHT TO SUE ROMANIA OVER CYANIDE SPILL
Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi told Hungarian media on 18 July
that Budapest has not ruled out taking legal action against Romania over a
cyanide spill that polluted Hungary's Tisza River in January. Martonyi
said he will consider potential diplomatic moves against Romania in the
light of a report now being drafted by government commissioner Janos
Gonczy following his recent visit to the site of the spill (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 14 July 2000). MSZ
Rumania to restore ecological balance
Rumania to restore ecological balance (But why only now? Will it
necessitate further expropriation of Hungarian-owned lands? )
BUCHAREST (April 12) XINHUA - Romanian Minister of Waters, Forestry and
Environment Protection Romica Tomescu Wednesday called for more efforts in
tree planting so as to restore the country's ecological balance.
"Almost 50 percent of the forest ecosystems are ecologically
unbalanced" although Romania still has virgin natural forest massifs,
exceptional in biodiversity and stability, the minister was quoted as
saying.
"Regardless of how big Romania's economic difficulties could be, the
increase in wood areas has not to be conditioned by the size of the
sacrifice," he stressed.
For about half a century the woods' biodiversity has been diminishing,
some types of ecosystems disappeared even before they were scientifically
known, Minister Tomescu said, adding that felling was the main reason, to
which pollution, drought, grazing, and hydrotechnical works were added.
Referring to the strategy for long-lasting development of Romanian
forestry over 2000-2020, Tomescu said it is necessary that, on the
average, 35-40 percent of the country's territory be covered by woods and
other forms of forest vegetation.
"As many as 243,000 ha of land have to be planted by 2010 and added to
the forest fund existing in 1989, and another 715,000 ha by 2020, so the
total is of 958,000 ha," added Romica Tomescu, stressing that the land for
afforestation will come from a cut down in the farmland.
Tomescu also said that "in order to avoid the isolation of Romanian
forestry, with very bad consequences in the entire national economy, its
integration into the European programs and structures is a priority as
important as the development of scientific research in the field."
Copyright XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
Cyanide spiller let off lightly by UN report: green groups
SYDNEY, April 20 (AFP) -
The Australian gold-mining firm responsible for spilling cyanide into
Hungary's Danube and Tisza rivers has been let off the hook in a UN
report, green groups said Thursday.
The UN report said pollution from the cyanide spill in Romania earlier
this year affected four rivers in the region.
But it also partially cleared the company, saying Esmeralda Exploration
had complied with regional environmental controls.
The Australian Mineral Policy Institute said the report underscored the
need to formulate an international code of practice for transnational
miners.
"The report highlights that the cyanide operation is highly risky and that
there was a rudimentary emergency preparedness and response procedure
considering the large quantities of hazardous materials close to human
populations and the river system," institute executive director Geoff
Evans said.
"Transnational mining companies like Esmeralda are exploiting the
situation where standards in some countries like Romania are much lower
than they are in Australia.
The UN report said the disaster may provide a basis for legal action
against Esmeralda, while West Australian Greens Member of Parliament Giz
Watson said only a lack of scientific material had prevented prosecution
until now.
"I don't know whether this is going to solve the problem but I certainly
think a UN report is going to add weight to bringing Esmeralda to task on
this issue," he said.
The report stressed that the January 30 spill in the Baia Mare region of
northwest Romania into the shared river systems of Hungary, Romania and
Yugoslavia happened in an area already contaminated by heavy metals due to
a long history of mining.
Lawyers confident of getting $179m from Esmeralda
Lawyers representing Hungary are confident of getting $179 million in
compensation from the part-Australian owned mining company blamed for one
of Europe's worst environmental disasters.
The Hungarian government has lodged a compensation claim against
Perth-based Esmeralda Exploration, half owner of a Romanian mine blamed
for a devastating cyanide spill early this year.
Esmeralda was suspended from share trading and went into administration
after the accidental release into the Tisza River of cyanide contaminated
water from its gold tailings dam at Baia Mare in Romania on January 30.
The spill polluted rivers in Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Ukraine
and is alleged to have killed 1,241 tonnes of fish in Hungary alone.
Lawyer Hayden Stephens, whose firm Slater and Gordon is representing the
Hungarian government, today presented a claim for $179 million to a
meeting of Esmeralda creditors. The company has been in voluntary
administration since March.
Outside the meeting, Mr Stephens said he believed the money could come
from Esmeralda's insurance policy.
He expected the claim to be rejected by Esmeralda administrator Kim
Strickland, in which case court proceedings would begin to recover the
money.
"(Esmeralda's) assets are minimal as the administration documentation
shows," Mr Stephens told journalists. "We're confident, though, with an
insurance policy there will be adequate funds to compensate the Republic
of Hungary. We believe we have a viable claim."
However, Mr Strickland said neither the company's insurance policy nor its
assets would cover the $179 million claim. He said the claim could not be
assessed until further details were provided, expected within the next few
weeks.
"The company clearly doesn't have $179 million in the bank," he said.
"There are various avenues such as insurance or possible counter-claims
that will come into the equation, but we will only assess them in detail
once we have further particulars of the republic of Hungary's claim."
Esmeralda announced last month that it had resumed operations at the
tailings project, assuring its safety and promising to make environmental
concerns a top priority.
Mr Stephens said the Hungarian government was particularly concerned that
it had not been consulted before operations recommenced and was worried a
similar leak could happen again.
A further creditor's meeting is due to be called within 60 days, to allow
Mr Strickland time to assess the Hungarian claim and to assess the future
of the company. © This material is subject to copyright and any
unauthorized use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.
(PS: HL believes that it is also time to return the Danube lawsuit to The
Hague for a second round and a final ruling.)
Cyanide spill firm cleared
April 21, 2000 - Telegraph Group Limited - THE Australian gold-mining firm
which spilled cyanide in north-west Romania into the Danube and Tisza,
affecting the river systems of Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia, has been
partly exonerated in a United Nations report. The report said the spill
occurred in an area already contaminated by heavy metals and that
Esmeralda Exploration had complied with regional regulations.
The UN added that the incident might provide the basis for legal action
against Esmeralda. Giz Watson, a Western Australian Greens MP, said that
only a lack of scientific evidence had prevented prosecution.
Cyanide Spill on Tisza - London Investors Call on Gonczi
hd: Budapest, 16 August (MTI) - Janos Gonczi, leader of the Tisza-Szamos
Government Commissioner's Office, on Wednesday held talks with
representatives of a London investment group, which is one of the minority
owners of the Romanian-Australian Aurul mining company that caused the
cyanide spill which hit the Hungarian Tisza river in February.
"The informal talks were held in Budapest, and served mutual information,"
the spokesperson of the Commissioner's Office, Eva Montsko, told MTI.
She declined to say which investment group was being represented at the
talks.
Montsko did, however, say that the investors specialised in mining,
therefore, it was in their interest to gather information about the
catastrophe that hit the Hungarian river.
"The main lesson of the meeting was that the cyanide spill along the Tisza
in February should not be treated as an isolated case, since the events
that took place at the Aurul company of Baia Mare, Romania, can have
effects on the future of gold mining as such," the spokesperson said. +++
Miner Denies Settlement Aim Over Hungary Cyanide Spill
Sydney, Australia, Sep 1, 2000 -- (Reuters) Australian mining company
Esmeralda Exploration Ltd has denied reports it was seeking an
out-of-court settlement with the Hungarian government over a cyanide spill
in the Tisza River.
"Esmeralda has not gone seeking a settlement," Kim Strickland, of
accountancy Hall Chadwick, administrator of Esmeralda, told Reuters on
Friday.
Chadwick said he was aware of a news report in Hungary about Esmeralda
seeking a settlement.
Australian Radio Broadcasting Corp said Hungarian government spokeswoman
Eva Montsko was reported to have said Esmeralda had sent representatives
to Hungary for talks to find out if it would bend toward an out-of-court
settlement.
More than 100 cubic meters of cyanide-tainted water from the Aural gold
mine flowed into the Tisza River, Hungary's second biggest waterway,
killing fish and other wildlife in January.
Strickland said an attorney for Hall Chadwick who traveled to Hungary last
week sought further details from the government over a claim lodged by
Hungary on July 10 asking Esmeralda for AUD 179 million (USD 103 million)
in compensation.
"We are in no position to seek a settlement," he added.
The attorney had since returned to Australia.
Esmeralda owns 50 percent of the shares in a Romanian company, Aurul SA,
which owns the Aurul SA Tailings Retreatment Project at Baia Mare in
Romania. The Romanian government owns 45 percent of Aurul and Romanian
business interests hold five percent.
Esmeralda appointed Hall Chadwick in March when it voluntarily entered
into administration. Its shares have been suspended from trading at the
Australian Stock Exchange since February 10.
Administration is a form of bankruptcy under which a company or its
creditors appoint administrators to establish if the company can emerge
from its difficulties or should be liquidated.
Esmeralda has admitted cyanide overflowed on January 30 into the Tisza
River, which leads into the Danube, from dams designed to hold hazardous
mine waste from a gold smelter.
But Strickland said since Esmeralda was only a shareholder in Aurul it
should not be expected to admit liability for the disaster.
"Since when is a shareholder held liable," he said.
Hungary to sue Romanian company for cyanide pollution in January
BUDAPEST, Dec 16 (AFP) - Hungary is to sue the Romania-based gold mining
company Aurul in January for damages caused by a cyanide spill that
devastated central Europe's principal rivers earlier this year, an
official said Saturday.
Janos Goenczy, Hungary's commissioner responsible for clearing up the
spill, spoke after he discussed a report on the disaster with the European
Union's Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem.
"The report offers Hungary clues to claim damages from the Romanian Aurul
company in a civil suit in January," Goenczy told a press conference on
his return from Brussels.
The 40-page document, compiled by a working group set up by Wallstroem,
states that the spill of cyanide and heavy metals into the rivers was not
caused by bad weather but by the insufficient technical condition of the
facilities," said Goenczy.
Hungary has claimed that the January spill at the Baia Mare-based gold
mining complex killed some 1,200 tonnes of fish in Hungary alone, as it
travelled along the Somes, the Tisza and then the Danube rivers across six
countries.
Romania has claimed that the spill was caused as the dam of a reservoir
that contained cyanide solution -- a byproduct of extracting gold from the
ore -- split in extremely harsh weather at the Baia Mare factory.
But the report pointed out that the spill was caused by the technology
used by Aurul, said Goenczy.
"Nowhere in Europe is this technology accepted. The report advises Romania
to replace the current outdated, open-air gold extraction method by a
closed-system, modern technology," he said.
He added that human carelessness was also responsible.
"The report clearly points to careless, irresponsible implementation of
the technology, that is, to punishable activity," said Goenczy.
He stressed that since the January spill, "no technical intervention
whatsoever has been made at Romanian gold mining complex to reassure us".
"Hungary continues to be in danger, exactly as much as before the spill,"
he said.
He said an international institute comprising scientists,
environmentalists, economists and officials from the five countries that
lie along the Tisza river (Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine)
should eliminate the most hazardous pollution sources.
"But Romania has so far failed to sign the 10-15-million-dollar
(11.3-17-million-euro) project proposals. The question is how the new
Romanian government treats the issue," said Goenczy.
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Unfolding environmental disasters: 
Part Esmaralda & part Romanian Gov. owned Gold Plant in Transylvania, near Nagy Bánya (Baia Mare)