Socialist Presidential Hopeful Opposes 'Hazardous' Gold Mine in Bulgaria

Socialist presidential candidate, Bulgarian PES MEP Ivailo Kalfin, said Tuesday he will back residents of Bulgarian town of Krumovgrad in their protest against an incipient project for gold production in the area.

Tuesday the candidate for the position of Bulgaria's President of main opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party visited the small south-eastern town in the Bulgarian Rhodope Mountains as part of his campaign trip accross the country.

"As a MEP I will assist Krumovgrad residents with their petition at the European Parliament to stop this environmentally hazardous project," vowed Kalfin.

In February, the Bulgarian government gave Canadian company Dundee Precious Metals a concession to extract gold in Ada Tepe near Krumovgrad.

In exchange for the 30-year concession, the company is making the commitment to invest over BGN 114 M and extract an average of 850 tons a year of ore. The Krumovgrad municipality is to receive 30% of the concession payments.

Dundee had a prior permit to exploit the Krumovgrad mine, but it was annulled by a Bulgarian court in 2010, after it was found that a Dundee subsidiary was using the environmentally hazardous cyanide technology in Bulgaria's Chelopech mine.

This has provoked a nationwide controversy regarding the Canadian company and its methods of work.

Since then, Dundee has filed documents for the new Krumovgrad tender, according to which the ore will be processed outside of Bulgaria and no cyanides will be used.

Local residents and environmentalists still oppose the extraction of gold in the region, arguing it still poses significant environmental dangers.