The first step towards the exit of Minvest from the gold business of Roşia Montană

• The Minister of the Economy has replaced the manager of Minvest, Daniel Andronache, from the Board of Directors of Roşia Montană Gold Corporation, with the head of the mineral resources department from the Ministry

• Adriean Videanu had announced yesterday that the ministry it was leading would get involved directly in the gold business of Roşia Montană

The state makes its move in the gold business before even completing the investigation on the unclear reasons which led to the reduction of its stake in the Roşia Montană project.

The official of Minvest in the Board of Directors of RMGC, Daniel Andronache, was recently replaced, but the reasons behind his sacking remain unknown.

Contacted by BURSA, Daniel Andronache claims he received no official notification about his revocation, but said that he had found out from other sources that he had been replaced: "I think I was replaced because I am no longer a director in Minvest. While I was an administrator in the company there were no talks about the direct involvement of the Ministry of the Economy in the company".

Daniel Andronache declined to comment on the name of his replacement as manager of Minvest and whether it was the same person that replaced him on the board of Directors of RMGC.

The representatives of Roşia Montană Gold Corporation also refused to comment the reasons behind this replacement, and suggested we ask Daniel Andronache. The officials of RMGC also declined to comment the intention of the Minister of the Economy of entering the business of Roşia Montană directly instead of through the state owned company Minvest, as it happened until now.

Adriean Videanu, the Minister of the Economy, yesterday said, in an interview for BURSA, that it intends to get the Ministry involved directly in the Roşia Montană Gold Corporation to better manage the state"s interests in this project: "Our objective is to study whether it is possible to transfer the ownership of the shares that Minvest Deva has in the Roşia Montană Gold Corporation, to be owned directly by the Ministry of the Economy, to allow for better handling ".

"I will discuss the matter of the license and the reduction of the state"s stake in the project with our private associate."

Several months ago, the Ministry of the Economy also launched a probe into the way the license was transferred from "Minvest" to the project company, more than ten years ago.

The modification of the structure of the Board of Directors of Roşia Montană Gold Corporation was recorded by the Trade Registry one week ago, with Daniel Andronache now being replaced by Sorin Mihai Găman, the head of the Mineral Resources Department of the Ministry of the Economy and Trade.

Essentially, Sorin Mihai Găman returns as an official of the state in RMGC, after serving as an administrator for three years, between 2006 and 2009. He also served figured in the management of Minvest and of other companies controlled by the Ministry of the Economy.

It is possible that this time Daniel Andronache is the victim of the way he voted last autumn, when, as the representative of the Romanian state in the project, he opposed the share capital increase, which was proposed as a solution to prevent the dissolution of the company due to its net assets falling below the legally required limit, as written in an article published by BURSA in the beginning of the year.

Because it didn"t have the 27 million Euros it needed to participate in the share capital increase, Minvest eventually subscribed the shares, but did so using money borrowed from the minority shareholder of the company, Gabriel Resources, promising it would pay back its loan out of the dividends it would earn in the next years. The project is now about to get off the ground, after stagnating for years due to the absence of the town planning certificate and of the environmental permit. The controversial capital increase of December 2009, poses the risk of reducing the state"s stake in the project, only this time, far below 1%. If this were to happen, it really wouldn"t make difference on whether it would be Minvest or the Ministry of the Economy itself that would manage the interest of the state in the company.