Bucharest, April 4, 2025 – RBJ – Geological research in the 1980s in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, especially the Apuseni and Metaliferi, has revealed large gold, silver and copper mining fields. Over 200,000 tons of copper and at least 100 tons of gold have been estimated in the Rovina – Colnic – Valea Gârzei mining area, in the Brad area of Hunedoara County. The Rovina project has been challenged by environmental organizations and is currently blocked, following court rulings.
In the Banat Mountains, the deposits at Moldova Nouă, managed by Moldomin, are estimated at 500,000 tons of copper, or about 30 percent of Romania’s reserves. Currently, the Turkish company CupruMold Mining is the Romanian subsidiary of Eti Bakir SA and is engaged in the exploitation and valorization of copper ore in Moldova Noua, Caras-Severin County.
Today, according to Agerpres, the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Marcel Boloş, declared in Alba Iulia that efforts are being made to obtain European funds for the expansion of copper exploitation at Roşia Poieni.
“We intend for the project for the development of copper exploitation to be supported in the Smart Growth, Digitalization and Financial Instruments Operational Program. From this point of view, we are holding discussions with the European Commission so that this important project for Romania (…) can be expanded and, why not, to succeed, perhaps, in having this important ore and this important resource of Romania processed at the national level,” Marcel Boloş said in a press conference.
The minister added that a package of projects is being discussed that considers both the expansion of copper mining, but also the project related to copper processing.
“But for processing, we need to identify the investor who would be willing to invest in such an important infrastructure, both in terms of investment volume and complexity of the technological process. What we are proposing to the European Commission has both a component of expanding mining, with the support of Cupu Min, and, why not, also in Alba County to have the processing component,” explained Boloş.
The minister mentioned that he had had discussions at the European Commission level twice so far. “We have three industries that we are preparing for accessing funds. These are the chemical industry, the steel industry and the critical materials sector, which has these two projects that I mentioned,” the dignitary added.
This is not the first time that there has been discussion about the possibility that the ore extracted from the Roşia Poieni deposit could be processed in the country and no longer be sold, in recent years especially in China, only in the form of dry copper concentrate.
In 2017, the Minister of Economy at the time, Mihai Fifor, said, during a visit to Abrud, that the authorities’ desire was not to sell “simply the ore”, but to “develop it in the area”, giving the town of Zlatna, in the Apuseni Mountains, as a possible location for the establishment of a metallurgical plant.
In 2022, the then Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, stated, following a visit to SC Cupru Min SA Abrud, a company that exploits the Roşia Poieni deposit where 60% of Romania’s copper reserves are located, that investments must be supported so that copper ore can be processed in the country.
In 2023, Marcel Boloş, then Minister of Finance, said, after visiting the quarry, that two projects had been identified and discussed with the management of Cupru Min: “One project is the one related to ore processing – here it remained for us to have presented the main coordinates of the project and everything that the investment cost means and how we will operationalize the personalized state aid scheme. A second project is related to the processing of copper ore, that is, obtaining finished products on the territory of our country, which, we consider, are projects of strategic interest for Cupru Min.”
Cupru Min, a company subordinated to the Ministry of Economy, has as its main activity the exploitation and delivery in specific forms of copper ore resources/reserves from the Roşia Poieni mining area. The concentrate extracted by Cupru Min is from a porphyry deposit, which, in addition to copper, also contains other metals.
