BUCHAREST, ROMANIA—A special Romanian parliamentary commission overwhelmingly rejected a draft bill that would allow Canada’s Gabriel Resources to set up Europe’s biggest open-pit gold mine.

Gabriel has been waiting 14 years for approval to use cyanide to mine about 314 tons of gold and 1,500 tons of silver in the town of Rosia Montana, in the Carpathian mountains in Transylvania. The state also holds a minority stake in the mine.

Canadian gold mine faces protests

The draft, which triggered countrywide protests against the mine with weekly protests staged in the capital, Bucharest, and some other cities, prompted the government in September to set up a commission to assess the bill.

Ruling coalition co-leader and Senate Speaker Crin Antonescu said before the vote that the bill would be rejected.

One of the 19-member commission lawmakers, Attila Korody, told Reuters: “The commission believes the bill under consideration does not entirely meet all the complex requirements on the conduct of business in mineral resource exploitation in Romania, and therefore, proposes its rejection.”

Every member of the commission, barring two who abstained, voted against the bill. The report will follow “normal parliamentary proceedings and a final vote later this month.” Analysts expect Parliament to endorse the report.

Earlier this year, the leftist government of Prime Minister Victor Ponta proposed a bill to speed up the project by setting strict deadlines for the approval process.

Darius Valcov, a member of Ponta’s ruling Social Democrat Party and head of the commission, said, “This debate was long but needed ... if the government hadn’t taken the responsibility to pick up this hot potato and launch it into debate, I don’t think someone else would have had the courage to do so.”

Dozens of people had protested in front of Parliament during the commission session on Monday.

Canada’s Gabriel Resources wanted to use cyanide to mine 314 tons of gold and 1,500 tons of silver in the town of Rosia Montana in northwestern Romania. The plan would include razing four mountains and creating a lake of cyanide.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Ponta’s government originally sent a bill to Parliament to approve the project, but changed its mind after weeks of protests in Romanian cities over environment concerns and criticism that Romania would earn too little from the deal. “The ruling coalition intends to reject the project,” Ponta said Monday, adding the government supports foreign investment in its natural resources.

Supporters of the gold mine project say it would bring vital foreign investment to Romania and create jobs in a deprived area. President Traian Basescu, formerly a staunch supporter of the project, has distanced himself and now says he is neutral.

He has accused Ponta, a political rival, of accepting money to support the project, an accusation Ponta denies.