THE ROSIA MONTANĂ MINING PROJECT A BUSINESS-PSYCHOLOGY PRESENTATION

Year 2011, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 21 - 30, 01.06.2011

ágnes Vırlıcs

Abstract

In 1997, a Canadian corporation obtained the concession license for exploitation
of gold and silver ores of an old Roman gold mine, at Rosia Montană, Romania,
with the intention of developing it into one of the most ambitious business
projects, of Eastern Europe.
The intended technology for the project was “gold cyanidation” (also known as
the cyanide process or the MacArthur-Forrest process) a technique for extracting
gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water soluble coordination
complex.
The essential agreement was a Canadian, 80% – Romanian 20% cooperation
project, according to which, the Canadian corporation was to take the extracted
gold out of the country leaving behind the cyanide-poisoned environment.
Such a deal could have succeeded only as a result of a vast public relations
campaign, which had to rest on the best possible application of business
psychology factors. This paper examines the Rosia Montana project by using
Herbert A. Simon’s views of the decision making processes in a given
organization.

Keywords

decision making, Herbert A. Simon, psychology, Rosia Montană

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