Gold Futures is the same old Golden Myths

A new documentary Gold Futures ignores the facts and plays fast and lose with the truth in its investigation of a billion-dollar opencast goldmine in the village of Rosia Montana, high in the Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, Romania.

The documentary Gold Futures will be aired on PBS in the USA on Tuesday August 21st. It is essentially a re-edited version of an earlier film New Eldorado directed by the same director, Hungarian born Tibor Kocsis. New Eldorado has been shown at many International Documentary Film Festivals, scooping up awards and praise; becoming a must see for anyone with an environmentalist sensibility and those cynical about major development schemes.

Filmed in and around Rosia Montana over a number of years, Gold Futures purports to show both sides of the argument, allowing people in the area to speak for themselves. One interesting omission from the previous version, New Eldorado, is that there is little reference to the role of environmental NGOs who are pushing this campaign across Europe. Kocsis clearly wants his audience to believe this is a local grassroots campaign. However, these NGOs have descended on the village opening offices, effectively run the campaign against the mine, and have bankrolled much of the opposition to the mine.

It’s clear where Kocsis sympathies lie. In an interview " Rosia Montana: Point and Shoot" in the on-line magazine Transitions on 25th May 2005, (see) he makes his position clear: “I tried to be objective and show both sides, but it is very difficult when you see social and environmental destruction and a potential catastrophe”.

Whatever objectivity Kocsis claims, it’s not apparent in his film. Gold Futures carries a host of myths, factual inaccuracies and obvious attempts to hoodwink his audience. These cannot just be mistakes. Perhaps Kocsis believes his films are ‘good lies’, peddled to raise awareness about an important issue - where exaggeration and omission are morally the right thing to do. But whether a conscious attempt to pull the wool over people’s eyes or just shoddy film making, this is not an objective film.

This is not a David versus Goliath struggle, tiny environmentalist groups versus the ‘big bad’ gold-company. Some of the richest and most powerful environmental NGOs in the world – Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the George Soros funded Open Society Foundation, and the Goldman Environmental Foundation have allied with some of the largest landowners in the valley to stop the mine.

Of course gold-mining is not everyone’s idea of an ideal job. It is back breaking, hazardous and dirty. Yet the new mine will offer some in rural Romania the opportunity to avoid taking up subsistence farming at home, or moving hundreds of miles to pick apples in Kent, England, or clean hotel rooms in Rome. It may even offer those who have already left an incentive to return.

Time and space limit me to some of the more obvious inaccuracies in the film. What follows are the 10 most obvious myths in the film. The Villagers of Rosia Montana face an uncertain future; certainly they deserve a better testament than this

MYTH 1, Running Time 0.30 – 0.34:



'I am fighting to preserve this village' says the un-named voice as the film focuses on a church with a red roof.

The film clearly suggests that this church is under threat. In fact, the particular Roman Catholic church pictured here lies in the Protected Zone (where no destruction is allowed). The church will not be destroyed – indeed, the project will lead to its restoration.

MYTH 2, Running Time 2.23 - 2.34:



“We are small, the company is big and powerful, this isn't a fair struggle, its like David and Goliath.”

Whatever happens in this ‘David and Goliath’ struggle the uncredited, Mr Eugen Cornea, Deputy President of Alburnus Maior the lead NGO opposed to the mine, will continue to live at number 439, his house is in the Protected Zone.

MYTH 3, Running Time 3.50 – 4.16:



The shot of a young boy looking out of a window startled by a heavy truck moving through the village. Then film of an old lady warily moving out of the way as a heavy truck passes her. The film suggests this is something sudden and new disturbing the peace of the village.

Both scenes are filmed in the Protected Zone that will remain untouched by the mine project. The boy is looking out of a window in house no. 409. The old lady is filmed in front of house no. 508. The trucks are in fact, not from the new mine project, but from the old state mining operation RosiaMin. It's likely that the trucks were on their way to or from the old mine at Rosia Poieni, given that the road shown leads there.

MYTH 4, Running Time, 5.36 – 5.42



The film announces, "This is a miners house ", it allows the resident to claim he is being forced out of his home.

This house, no. 373, belongs to Francisc David. It is one of the oldest houses in Rosia Montana and lies in the Protected Zone. It will thus not be touched.

MYTH 5, Running Time 7.50 – 8.34



The scene begins with an elderly gentleman musing that in 30-40 years time the village of Rosia Montana will not exist (even though that part of the village is, once again in the Protected Zone). The film then cuts to another street focusing on a wall with turquoise coloured stone adorned with female figureheads; then to another wall with figures; finally focussing on a stone sign ‘1854 Neimer Anna Epitette’. The inference is clear, the village and the ancient buildings will be destroyed by the new project.

The entire scene is filmed in the village square in the Protected Zone. All of the buildings shown evoke important retrospective glimpses back to the "golden years" of the village in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries., While few are listed as historical buildings, none of the houses shown will be destroyed. On the contrary, they will be rehabilitated. In the coming years, should the project be approved, RMGC will undertake a major restoration program. The company will restore buildings such as house no. 326; the stone sign ‘1854 Neimer Anna Epitetette’. , a ruin and the façade remaining a testament , to their former glory. There are 41 historic structures in Rosia, the oldest of which dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, 35 are in the protected zone, the six outside the zone are not touched by the mine. None – not even one – will be destroyed as Kocsis’ film implies.

MYTH 6, Running Time, 31.56 – 34.50



This scene starts with shots of churches, then a meeting in a church where Alburnus Maior members argue that they don't want their churches to be destroyed or sold. The scene features a speech by Gheorghe Ivascanu, an old miner (who has now changed his opinion to being in favour of the project) who demands that the churches should not be sold to the company. The point being made is clear, the mine is going to lay waste the churches in the valley.

The film shows inside shots of four different churches. These are, in order of appearance: 1) The Greek Catholic Church. The mine will not impact this church. It will not be accessible during the lifetime of the mine, but will be re-opened once the mine closes. 2) The Unitarian Church. Mainly the Hungarian congregation in Rosia Montana uses this church. The church is situated in the Protected Zone, and thus will not be affected by the mine. 3) The Orthodox Church in Rosia Montana. This church will not be directly affected by the mine, but will not be accessible until the mine has finished operation. 4) The Roman Catholic Church in Rosia Montana. This church is in the Protected Zone, and thus will not be affected by the project.

In Gold Futures a total of seven churches are shown at different times throughout the film. Of these seven, only two will be closed because of the mine. Of the other five churches, three will be totally untouched as they are in the Protected Zone.

The remaining other two churches will have limited access during the operation of the mine, though the congregation could gain access for the most important religious festivals if they wish. Both of these churches will open and have normal access after the operation of the mine has ceased. This company commitment is expressed in the Environmental Impact Assessment Report. Commitments made in the EIA are legally binding. After the mine has finished operating, the company will assist the congregation to revitalise the two churches, both of which have seen better days.

It is worth noting that the vast majority of inside shots of churches shown in the film are of churches that will remain untouched by the mine. These churches are some of the more beautiful, ornate and interesting in the area. But no matter how many times these churches are shown, from the inside or from the outside, they are not going to be destroyed. The filmmaker is denying his audience the truth.

MYTH 7, Running Time, 40.03 – 40.07



"The Roman galleries known as Alburnus Maior, are unique in the world"

The man who makes this claim is Ioan Piso, an epigraphist and historian of Roman civilization, but he is not a specialist in mining archaeology. He has not participated in the archaeological research in Rosia Montana. In fact there are at least 15 similar sites in Romania with the same archaeological potential that feature Roman mining. There are also similar sites in a number of other European countries.

MYTH 8, Running Time, 41.53



The film shows a church, the narration claiming that the company is "moving churches and graveyards".

The church shown is the Orthodox Church in Rosia Montana. As stated earlier, this church is not moving and neither is the graveyard.

MYTH 9, Running Time, 44.20 – 47.10



The film highlights the plight of a woman who states that she does not want to leave her apartment and has told the company that her apartment is not for sale. A sign is shown in her window, "This House is not for sale, we don’t want Cyanide". The women is later shown in tears because it is claimed if she is forced to leave her apartment she will no longer have access to the graves of her dead son and husband. On film she states that her only wish is to be buried there.

It’s a tearful, moving, heart-wrenching story, but it's also total fiction.

The woman's name is Margaret Buran. Her apartment is in the Protected Zone, and will remain un-touched. The company has no need or wish to purchase it. The graves of her son and husband are in the cemetery of the Roman Catholic Church, in the Protected Zone, and will thus not be moved. One has to wonder at the ethics of a filmmaker who would use the obvious unhappiness and distress of this woman to make a partisan point based on a bald lie.

MYTH 10, Running Time, 47.34 – 48.00



In this scene Eugen Cornea, Deputy President of the anti-mine organization Alburnus Maior – yet again unidentified -- is seen standing in front of a recently destroyed building, with bulldozers operating in the background. He says, "We are in Corna, Gold Corp has started demolishing houses before receiving authorisation, before the approval of the environmental impact study". We then see bulldozers destroying property.

This quote suggests that the company is simply destroying the homes of local people without having the authority, and that this could only be done illegally. Nothing here has been done illegally. The homes being demolished were bought from the villagers, all for a premium price, despite their condition.

There are so many wilful attempts in the film to hide the truth about the plight of people in Rosia Montana. The film presents Rosia Montana as a peaceful place, untouched by industry, about to be fatally and tragically impacted by a foreign mining conglomerate.

Anyone who visits the valley is going to find a scarred landscape, the residue and remains of previous mine workings – a huge crater left by the old state mine only hundreds of metres from the village centre and rivers running red with iron and pollution. This is no paradise. Claims such ‘Four mountains will be destroyed', Eugen Cornea (25.04 – 25.20), need to be exposed. Are these the same four mountains riddled with over 150 kilometres of old mine workings, that are both unstable and polluting the water system of the valley, land so disturbed and torn apart that this is visible on satellite photographs?

An honest filmmaker with a modicum of objectivity would have shown what the ravages of decades of uncontrolled mining have done to this area. Rosia Montana is dependent on and scarred by the mono-industry of gold mining. The new mine is the last best chance the village has to escape its imminent decline. The inhabitants of Rosia Montana certainly deserve better than the travesty of the truth that is Gold Futures.

Kirk Leech is a journalist, broadcaster, and researcher. For more about his work in Rosia Montana, visit www.goldenmyths.com.