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There is more where it came from
By ALISON MUTLER
Associated Press Writer
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- The environmental minister counted 41
mining sites in Romania that pose a danger to the environment, and said
Sunday he would demand that operators tell him what they were doing to
prevent accidents.
Minister Romica Tomescu spoke two days after melting snow and
torrential rains broke a dam at the state-owned Baia Borsa mine, 235
miles northwest of Bucharest. The breach sent a wave of zinc- and
lead-laden waters into the Vaser River.
That accident came six weeks after a cyanide spill killed tons of fish
in the Tisza River in Hungary and Yugoslavia. The Vaser flows into the
Tisza.
Speaking on a private television station, Pro TV, Tomescu said there
were 41 dangerous mining sites in northern Romania, and that he was
demanding information from operators about dangers and preventive
measures.
He did not list all 41 sites, but mentioned a few near the towns of
Baia Mare, Zlatna and Hunedoara. Northwestern Romania is a major mining
area.
A team of German experts, including Germany's environmental minister,
arrived in Bucharest on Sunday, and will travel to the country's north
Monday.
"We're here to help prevent future accidents," Minister Gila Altman
told Pro TV.
At the Baia Borsa mine, executive director Staicu Balanescu said
repairs to the dam could take up to three months.
Ukrainian authorities have warned people against drinking the Tisza's
water or eating its fish, Pro TV said.
In Budapest, Hungarian government commissioner Janos Goenczy said the
heavy metal contamination had entered the Tisza River east of the cyanide
spill.
"This means that the previously untouched parts of the river are
contaminated as well," he said. Goenczy expressed concern about the
long-term effects of heavy metal in the waterways, and the danger of them
entering the food chain.
Nearly all of Hungary's fresh water comes from outside of its borders.
Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, said he hoped international
pressure would force Romania to sign an environmental protection
agreement with Hungary.
Three U.N. experts were also expected in Hungary late Sunday or Monday
to help assess the situation, Goenczy said.
Identifying potential environmental trouble spots in Romania
BY Krisztina Than
Associated Press Writer
BUDAPEST, March 12 (Reuters) - Hungary said on Sunday it would ask
the European Union to identify potential environmental trouble spots in
neighbouring Romania after spills there twice polluted one of Hungary's
biggest rivers.
Hungary decided to ask for help from an EU task force after its
second biggest river, the Tisza, was heavily contaminated by spills
coming from Romania for the second time this year.
A cyanide spill from a gold smelter practically wiped out life in
most of the Tisza six weeks ago, and heavy metal residues from another
Romanian mine hit the river on Saturday.
Environment ministry officials said a 20-km spill containing zinc
and lead well above permitted levels was moving downstream in the Tisza.
About 20,000 tonnes of heavy metal residues spilled into the Vaser
river from the state-run Baia Borsa lead and zinc mine in northern
Romania on Friday after heavy rain and melting snow burst a dam.
"These accidents coming one after the other raise the question of
responsibility on the side of the Romanian state and Romanian
authorities," Istvan Horvath, a foreign ministry official told a news
conference on Sunday.
Pollution from across the frontier posed such a risk to Hungary's
population and environment that Hungary needed to participate in mapping
up and controlling potential hazards, he said.
About 96 percent of Hungary's rivers and streams originate outside
the country, mostly in Romania and the Ukraine.
Horvath said Hungary would ask an EU task force including EU
experts, international environmental bodies and representatives of the
Hungarian and Romanian governments to help prevent further catastrophes.
The Council of Europe would also discuss the pollution of the Tisza,
he said.
Both Hungary and Romania aspire to EU membership. Hungary hopes to
join in 2003.
Hungarian experts have been analysing samples from the Tisza every
hour in the past two days. Three UN experts were also expected to arrive
in Hungary on Monday to help local authorities.
Hungary surprised at Romania gold smelter relaunch
BUDAPEST, June 14 (Reuters) - Hungary expressed surprise on Wednesday
that Romania without notice restarted a gold smelter which caused a big
cyanide spill into Hungarian rivers and surrounding farmland in January.
"We, regrettably, have not received any official notification," Eva
Montsko, spokeswoman for the government commissioner of the most affected
Tisza river told Reuters. "When government commissioner Janos Gonczy
in mid-April conducted talks in Bucharest, the Romanian environment
minister promised that he would be invited to the restart of the plant to
see the conditions of the relaunch," she added.
The Aurul gold
smelter at Baia Mare in north-west Romania, which is part-owned by the
Australian Esmeralda Exploration Ltd , poisoned rivers in Hungary after
ten thousands of tonnes of cyanide-tainted water overflowed the tailings
dam.
The Aurul project is owned by Romanian company Aurul SA of which
Esmeralda owns 50 percent, while the Romanian government holds a 45
percent stake in the company. The rivers Tisza and Danube, hit by the
cyanide spill in January in one of Europe's worst river pollution
accidents flow through Romania, Hungary and Serbia.
Esmeralda said on
Wednesday it had tightened security at the plant to handle potential
future overflows.
In the meantime, Hungary's second river, the Tisza,
seems to be recovering from the severe symptoms of cyanide pollution.
"The Tisza is like a rapidly recovering patient -- who has probably
overcome the initial crisis and there are signs of improvement," Montsko
said.
She said heavy flooding in the spring helped the rebirth of the
Tisza and, as a result, it was possible to swim in the river again and a
fishing ban would also be lifted as of June 19.
"Fish are healthy and
edible... however, there seems to be a significant reduction in rare
species," she added.
UN: Design, Weather Caused Romanian Cyanide Spill
GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. report has blamed technical problems and bad
weather for a spill of slurry containing cyanide from a Romanian gold mine
in January. The spill from a mine in northwest Romania on Jan. 30
killed large numbers of fish in the Tisza and Danube rivers in Hungary and
Yugoslavia. The U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) report cited "a
combination of inherent design deficiencies in the industrial processes
involved, inadequate operating conditions and bad weather" as probable
causes for the accident at the mine near Baia Mare. The mine's proprietor,
Aurul SA, is half-owned by Australia's Esmeralda Exploration Ltd.
Romanian environment officials suspended Aurul's operating license and
launched a criminal investigation after a tailings dam at the mine broke,
releasing the toxic slurry. The governments of Romania, Hungary and
Yugoslavia had asked for an independent report on the spill. The
report warned of possible "chronic health impacts" from the spill, given
that it had occurred in an area "already contaminated with heavy metals
due to a long history of mining and metal processing." "The region's
large number of poorly maintained and operated plants and flotation ponds
containing dangerous substances -- many of which continue to leak -- are
the source of a chronic pollution problem," it said. UNEP experts
recommended that Romania weigh the benefits of mining operations inherited
from the communist era against environmental risks. They also called
on countries in the region to draft a joint strategy on mining and related
industries, as well as tourism and fishing, which suffered losses after
the spill.
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Unfolding environmental disasters: 
Part Esmaralda & part Romanian Gov. owned Gold Plant in Transylvania, near Nagy Bánya (Baia Mare)
