A proposed plan to open Europe's largest open pit precious metal mine has soured relations between Hungary and Romania, raising serious concerns regarding the European Union's (eu's) rules on mining waste and waste management.

Following talks on July 31 in Bucharest, Hungary's environment ministry asked Romania to refuse environmental permit to the controversial gold mine projects planned in the Rosia Montana village in Alba county.

Hungarians are protesting the project as another such Romanian gold mine near Baia Mare had wiped out wildlife along Hungary's eastern waterways in 2000. The un Espoo Convention on trans-boundary environmental impact requires Romania to