I don’t think my feet have touched the ground since returning from my fieldwork in Romania two weeks ago. My work with Terra Firma has sent me there twice before, but this time I was accompanied by Ramune on her first visit to the Transylvanian Goldfields. I knew I was in for a bumpy ride (literally), but Ramune quickly learned that our fieldwork would be far more intrepid than usual.
Ramune doing fieldwork in Corna Valley
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) have appointed us to extend the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) study we previously carried out for the setting of the historic village of Rosia Montana. Our job is to demonstrate that the proposed open-cast gold mining operations can be acceptable in the landscape context, and integrate with the existing cultural heritage. Considering the nature of extracting the rock from the mountain sides, that’s not an easy task from the perspective of a Landscape Architect. However, this project is a truly fascinating one, bringing into play so many facets of related criteria, (such as sociology, demography, archaeology, biodiversity, economics, mining technology and the science of decontamination techniques) which go to make-up a genuine need for the industry. Continue reading
