WITH THE GUN OF THE IMF TO OUR HEAD A public private partnership in "Cupru Min" was no longer possible

• "Roman Copper" to pay 200 million Euros for "Cupru Min"

• The Canadian company has magnate Stephen G. Roman behind it

An alternative for "Cupru Min" would have ben the conclusion of a public-private partnership, Lucian Bode the minister of the Economy recently said, who went on to say the following, one week ago: "I am not necessarily a supporter of selling the controlling interests. (...) In this case (ed. note: "Cupru Min") we could have considered a public-private partnership, not necessarily the full sale of the company. But the privatization deadlines are very tight, the call for tenders will be held at the end of March. We can't postpone it too much, because the company isn't in a very good shape. It has environment-related liabilities which the investor will take on, of more than 90 million Euros".

The privatization of Cupru Min was approved by the Government as early as 2006, and was promised by the government in the letter of intent attached to the stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the agreement, the deadline for the privatization of Cupru Min has been set for the end of April.

The privatization of Cupru Min was imposed by the IMF, together with the privatization of other state owned companies such as Oltchim and the sale of minority stakes in energy companies such as Transgaz, Hidroelectrica or Transelectrica.

Lucian Bode said that he is a supporter of the efficient use of the resources that Romania has, and he also mentioned the Roşia Montană project, where the Romanian state is trying to renegotiate its stake in Roşia Montană Gold Coroporation (RMGC). "I am a supporter of developing the current existing capabilities, which means nothing else but creating jobs. I support the development of all the resources which Romania has, but not haphazardly, but in an efficient manner. What I said also applies to Cupru Min", Bode said.

• Cupru Min owns 60% of Romania's copper reserves

Canadian company Roman Copper Corp. won the call for tenders for the acquisition of "Cupru Min" Abrud at a price of 200.77 million Euros, 3.5 times bigger than the starting price of 57.3 million Euros, the Ministry of the Economy announced yesterday. Following this decision, the Romanian authorities will be negotiating with "Roman Copper" the terms of the contract for the sale of the shares in the company.

"Cupru Min" owns the Roşia Poieni mine, which contains about 60% of Romania's copper reserves. The company's copper reserves amount to about 900,000 tons (approximately 7 billion dollars).

The representatives of the Ministry of the Environment said the following in a press release: "The object and the methodology of the privatization of Cupru Min fully comply with the European competition principles, applicable in the privatization process. (...) The privatization of this company was intended to allow the continuation of the mining of copper ore in the Roşia Poieni area, the attracting of the funds needed for the technological and environmental investments and implicitly the preservation of jobs and the creation of new ones, as well as the ensuring of horizontal development of the industrial activities in the region".

"Roman Copper" Corp. is registered in Toronto and is controlled by the magnate Stephen Roman, heir of Stephen B. Roman, one of the notable figures of the Canadian mining industry. Together with his father, Stephen Roman intermediated the acquisition of the first nuclear CANDU reactor by the Ceauşescu regime in the 80s.

The Canadian press also reports that he has participated in raising the initial funding for Gabriel Resources, the majority shareholder of Roşia Montană Gold Corporation.

Roman owns many businesses in the mining sector, from uranium mining to the production of gold and other metals.

The businessman is the co-founder, managing director and CEO of Harte Gold Group, a company which he has been managing since January 2009, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. He holds or has held several management positions in companies in the industry, such as Global Atomic and Silvermet.

Roman was involved in all the aspects of the natural resources industry over the last 30 years and has identified, developed, and successfully monetized several mining, oil and gas projects, according to Bloomberg. He has also contributed to the modernization of the Canadian Armed Forces, from 1984-to 1985, working as an advisor to the minister of Defense.

• Failed attempt to buy out the "Oltchim" plant

Stephen G. Roman has held or still holds, various management positions in mining and petrochemical companies, aside from his involvement in Gabriel Resources. These include "Exall Resources", currently "Gold Eagle Mines Limited", where he served as president and CEO until 2006. Starting in 2012, he holds the position of CEO of "Exall Energy Corp.", a subsidiary of the former.

In May 2001, "Exall Resources" acquired 53.2% of the shares of "Oltchim". The price of the deal was ten million dollars, but the Canadian company only paid 705,000 dollars, representing the collateral for participating in the auction. Also, "Exall" did not open an escrow account of 25 million dollars, that would have guaranteed the first stage of the promised investments, amounting to about 150 million dollars. The investments in question were scheduled to take place over 3 years, and 100 million would have to be invested in cash and completed over a period of one year from the date the transfer of ownership of the shares. In order to get the necessary money, "Exall" created "Oltchim Acquisitions Company", which it tried to take public.

The operation did not take place anymore.

As a result of these irregularities, the Authority for Privatization (APAPS) cancelled the privatization contract.

In 2001, Stephen Roman was saying that the company he leads, together with the full consortium that he was leading, intended to invest approximately 550 million dollars in Oltchim, of which 220 million dollars to deal with the issue of the loans which the plant owes to banks.