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Romanian Mine Spills Causing Environmental Catastrophe in Central Europe
Three times within a period of seven weeks, Central Europe has suffered environmental
disasters of the greatest magnitude. All originated in Romania.
 On January 30, 2000, a cyanide spill from a Romanian mining operation
inflicted environmental damage comparable only to the massive release of
radiation that followed a fire and explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant in the Ukraine. The cyanide and metal byproducts escaping from the
Aurul gold mine in Romania found their way into a tributary of the Tisza, the
second largest river of Hungary. The Tisza carried the toxic material into
the Danube winding its way through Vojvodina in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria
into the Black Sea. The cyanide killed all life in the Tisza and caused
untold environmental and economic damage in the lower Danube basin. ... more ...
Cyanide Spill Kills Key European Otters
Cyanide is killing the Hungarian otters that were to be used as a seed group to restore vanishing otter populations elsewhere in Europe.
The January 30 cyanide spill from a Romanian gold mine is wiping out otters living by the Szamos and Tisza Rivers in Hungary, says Pal Gera, president of the Otter Foundation based in Hungary. An estimated 300 to 400 otters have already disappeared. "This is a major part of the remaining population of the European otter we have struggled to preserve," Gera mourns. ... more ...
Poisoned river was a haven for rare bird and fish species
The Tisza, Hungary's second largest river, was until two weeks ago one of Central Europe's cleanest, known for its populations of rare fish, insects and birds.
It contained 17 of Hungary's 29 protected fish species, including huchen, a salmon-like fish, and the Danube salmon. It is reputed also to harbour one of the last species of sturgeon to run the Danube and its tributaries. The river also had a number of insects found in few other rivers, including Europe's largest species of mayfly. ... more ...
Romanian cyanide disaster now threatens farmers
For obvious reasons, farmers are afraid the cyanide spill will contaminate their drinking water and kill their livestock
Cleanup operations are under way in northern Romania, the site of a deadly cyanide spill in late January that left a trail of death along several major waterways in Eastern Europe. But the environmental disaster has affected more than fish and wildlife.
Anna D'Mash is afraid that her sole means of income could be wiped out. Her family's clean water supply is dwindling and she worries that soon her cows and horses will die from drinking contaminated water.
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Heavy metal toxins possibly bigger danger
The World Health Organization earlier expressed concern that heavy metals such as lead and cadmium also might have escaped into the water, posing a potentially far greater health threat.
Romanian farmers have criticized those responsible for the spillover and spoken of earlier signals that something was wrong --livestock, killed by leaking cyanide, and contamination of farmland near the gold mine where the poison was used to process ore.
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'Toxic Bullet' of Cyanide Contaminates Rivers
An enormous "toxic bullet" of deadly cyanide that accidentally overflowed a dam at a Romanian gold mine has contaminated 250 miles of rivers in Hungary and Yugoslavia, killing millions of fish, shutting down water supplies and leaving a trail of aquatic devastation that will require years to repair.
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Stop transboundary environmental disasters!
Call for coordinated national and international actions
after a repeated mining spill
Within a less than six weeks period, already the second severe water pollution and contamination happened in the Romanian area of the river basin of Tisza. According to FoE Hungary and WWF Hungary this reconfirms the urgency to identify all potential sources of hazardous pollutants, to adequately secure these hotspots all over Europe including the accession countries of the EU and to take rapid national and international actions.
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Cyanide spiller let off lightly by UN report: green groups
SYDNEY, April 20 (AFP) -
The Australian gold-mining firm responsible for spilling cyanide into Hungary's Danube and Tisza rivers has been let off the hook in a UN report, green groups said Thursday.
The UN report said pollution from the cyanide spill in Romania earlier this year affected four rivers in the region.
But it also partially cleared the company, saying Esmeralda Exploration had complied with regional environmental controls.
The Australian Mineral Policy Institute said the report underscored the need to formulate an international code of practice for transnational miners. ...more
More to come ...
41 mining sites in Romania that pose a danger to the environment
Ukrainian authorities have warned people against drinking the Tisza's
water or eating its fish.
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
...more
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Unfolding environmental disasters: 
Farmers worries are legitimate.
Four spills from mines near Baia Mare (Nagy Bánya) - Borsa polluted both upper/lower Tisza ecological areas...