Romaltyn is asking in court the annulment of a decision of the Local Council of Baia Mare

Romaltyn has decided to go to court to fight the decision of the Local Council to relocate the building of the former "Aurul" factory, the only location which still has the ability to process gold ore, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons.

The representatives of Romaltyn have filed two lawsuits with the court of Baia Mare, which are intended to suspend and annul the decision of the local administration through which the relocation of the headquarters of the plant of Baia Mare has been demanded.

Lawsuit 5915 of 2013, of July 2013, is intended to obtain the annulment of the act issued by the public local authority of Baia Mare, and lawsuit 5916 of the same month requests the stay of the execution of the administrative decision.

The officials of the company of Baia Mare have confirmed that they would resort to every possible legal means of action in order to obtain the annulment of the decision the Local Council made in April, adding that all the investments they have planned will remain on schedule.

Thus, by the end of the year, investments of approximately 40 million dollars at the plant of Baia Mare are set to be made, according to the announcement made in the beginning of 2013, when private equity fund Fribourg Investments, controlled by the former prime minister of the Republic of Moldova, Ion Sturza, bought 49% of the share capital of mining company "Romaltyn Limited".

The resumption of the activity of "Romaltyn", which has been scheduled for the last quarter of 2013, will require investments of over 40 million dollars, which would cover the complete retooling of the plant, the replacement of the pipeline grid, the completion of the water treatment station at the tailing pond, the rebuilding of the insulation of the latter and the set up of new retention basins.

At the same time, market sources say that the mayor of Baia Mare, Cătălin Cherecheş has been empowered by the members of the local council to hire an attorney that would provide the consulting and specialized legal aid to the local council in the two lawsuits brought by Romaltyn against the former.

The dispute between the local council of Baia Mare and the representatives of the company began shortly after the investment fund bought 49% of the block of shares of Romaltyn Limited.

In April, the public administration of the county of Baia Mare where the plant is located, and since then, the two parties failed to reach an agreement on the issue.

Given the changes in the law concerning mines, in order to relaunch the mining operations, the plant of Baia Mare will get a far greater importance, given the fact that it is currently the only place in Romania where gold ore can be processed.

Until April last year, "Romaltyn" was owned by "Polyus Gold", the biggest gold producer in Russia, controlled by businesspeople Mikhail Prohorov and Suleiman Kerimov. The former is known, among other things, for his run for the Russian presidencty, last year, as well as for being the owner of American basketball club New Jersey Nets, which has since then changed its name to Brooklyn Nets, whereas the latter owns Russian football club Anzhi Makhachkala.

In April 2012, "Polyus Gold" announced the full sale of "Romaltyn" to Kazak company "SAT&Company", which operates in the sector of mining and processing of ferrous alloys, chrome, zinc, nickel, coal, as well as in petrochemistry. The deal, which was worth 20 million dollars, concerned all of the mining assets in Romania, including the gold treatment plant, which an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons, but is currently not operational, and three exploration licenses in the county of Maramureş.