The Ministry of Energy approved on Wednesday the Government Decision on the “Opening and putting into operation of Roşiuţa Career”. Practically, the Decision allows the passage of the Roşiuţa perimeter, a future mining work front for the CE Oltenia, into the inventory of the state.

The ministry states that this is the penultimate procedural stage in which Roşiuţa will be able to start mining works for the exploitation of lignite deposits. From now on, the Ministry of Energy, a representative of the Romanian state, will start the procedures of concession to the CEO of the entire area.

“We are approaching solving a problem that has been dragging on for years: opening new working fronts to the CE Oltenia to support both the coal-based energy production and the mining activity in the area. This was not simple. It was necessary to start and carry out the expropriations in order to reach this point. We have taken a Decision in the past that gives us the right to start the whole process, and today we are a step away from putting into operation a 3 million-tonne lignite-field potential. The surface of the expropriated corridor is of over 1,300 square meters and will support the energy produced by the Işalnita and Craiova thermal power plants. This is not the only new front in which we unlocked a national interest situation. This year we have completed the expropriations and we have also put into operation the perimeters of Roşia and Jilţ Sud. We are quite advanced with Pinoasa, another future source of lignite for the CEO,” said the Energy Minister, Anton Anton.