RE: Workers ?16 Mar 2026 19:01
Part 2
The company’s reaction
Contacted by DigiEconomic, company representatives offered an initial reaction following the miners’ protest announcement, stating that they had not been officially informed about the action. They explained that production activity has been blocked since February 2025, when the exploitation license expired.
Because the license expired, the company has not carried out mining activities for more than a year. Currently, operations are limited exclusively to pumping water out of the underground galleries to prevent the mine from flooding and to protect both its own assets and those of its partner, Băița SA.
“We are partners, on the polymetallic side, with the state-owned company Băița SA, which holds the license. Because our license expired in February 2025, more precisely on February 12, from February 13 onward we no longer had activity. All we have done there has been to pump water out of the underground workings so that the mine does not flood and to keep the assets intact, both ours and those of Băița SA. (…)”
In the absence of production, the company claims it has borne expenses of approximately 8 million lei over the past year just to keep the mine operational:
“The measure taken by management regarding technical unemployment was meant to remain in place until the situation is resolved regarding the licensing partnership and the continuation of polymetallic exploitation. Every month we have a cost of 300,000 lei for electricity billed by Hidroelectrica, plus the salaries of employees who operate the underground pumps that extract water daily, 24 hours a day, and the maintenance of those pumps over the course of a year. Those who provide maintenance have not been paid for three months, but at the moment Mr. Prelea, the administrator of Băița Plai, is making efforts for them to be paid by the end of this month, which would likely reduce the arrears to only one month.”
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