www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Romania_en/Rosia_Montana_ -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 7/9/2005
Last Visited: 3/14/2007
Former Canadian ambassador Raphael Girard - now a Director of the Board of Gabriel Resources - stated on a company webcast August 9, 2005 that the Canadian government is actively lobbying in support of the Rosia Montana Gold Mine.
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An August 9, 2005 investor webcast of Gabriel carried the announcement from Gabriel Resources Director Raphael Girard that "The Canadian government fully supports the project and in addition to this, the Canadian embassies in Brussels and Budapest are lobbying and doing all they can to help make the project happen."The webcast can be heard at: http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=1206480.
an class="hl">Raphael Girard was Canadian Ambassador to Romania from June 1, 2000 to August 31, 2003, and was appointed to Gabriel's Board of Directors last spring.
An Access to Information asking for "e-mails from and to Raphael Girard from June1, 2000 to August 31, 2003 regarding a gold mine in Rosia Montana", produced heavily censored documents which show that he was consistently relying on information provided by the company, was minimizing the extent of the opposition to the mine, and was disregarding very real environmental and socio-economic concerns about it.
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Girard, with his knowledge, experience and relationships, has been invaluable during the short time he has been on the Board of the Company."No doubt.