Cupru Min "X Files"

The story of the failed privatization of Cupru Min is far from over. In fact, it is actually beginning to look more like the famous series "X Files".

The Romanian government and the Canadians of Roman Copper, the winners of the auction, seem to be living in parallel worlds. While the Ministry of the Economy is getting ready to repeat the call for bids, claiming that the investor did not agree to the contractual conditions, Roman Copper once again announced that it had accepted the conditions imposed by the Romanian party.

On Friday, the Canadians announced that they have reached a definitive verbal agreement concerning the terms of the final privatization contract, but during the night, the Minister of the Economy announced that the representatives of Roman Copper did not adhere to the required conditions, which concerned the full payment of the contract, the fulfilling of the environmental obligations and the clauses concerning the transparency of this contract.

Yesterday morning, Roman Copper sent a new press release in which it showed that it was ready to apply all the conditions imposed by the Government to acquire Cupru Min, including the financial obligations which had not been included in the initial documentation of the call for bids. The officials of Roman Copper insist that they have agreed as early as Friday to the terms for acquiring the mining company and that they were confident that the privatization would be concluded, even though the statement made by Minister Bode seems to indicate the opposite.

Claiming that the statement made by Minister Bode in the media created confusion (ed. note: what can be confusing about a refusal?), the Canadians also note that the call for bids for the sale of Cupru Min is "widely acknowledged as the most transparent in the history of Romania's privatization program" and that it was ready to implement all the measures and investments required by the Government since March 26th.

Roman Copper claims that it has made sure that the manner in which Cupru Min and the "world level mine" of Roşia Poieni will offer all the possible benefits to the copper mining industry in Romania, the local communities and the national economy. "We are fully aware of the importance of this transaction for all the parties involved, including for the future well-being of the Romanian mining sector and for the credibility of the privatization process of the Romanian government", the quoted source also says.

Roman Copper announced that in the coming days, it would present further details of its plans for Cupru Min and it expects the continuation of the cooperation with the Romanian authorities for the deal to be completed.

To keep with the "X Files" theme, the mystery of the privatization of Cupru Min deepened at noon, when the Mediafax agency reported that the Minister of the Economy, Lucian Bode, and the Canadian ambassador in Bucharest came to the headquarters of the Government, after the Romanian authorities failed to reach an agreement with Canadian company Roman Copper on the privatization of Cupru Min.

In a statement made at the Victoria Palace, Dan Suciu, the spokesperson of the government, said that the Canadian ambassador came to the headquarters of the government for a meeting he had scheduled with Andreea Paul Vass, economic advisor to the prime minister, on the subject of several Canadian investments in Romania.

Suciu also said that the Minister of the Economy met with PM Ungureanu to clarify several positions before the meeting with the unions of yesterday afternoon. "Any connection between the presence of the Canadian ambassador at the office of the government and Prime Minister Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu is unfounded", Suciu said. Shortly after the information concerning the arrival of the Canadian ambassador at the headquarters of the government was made public, the flag was taken off his car, Mediafax also states.