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Jumat, 30 Agustus 2013
Saturn Moon Titan Sports Thick Icy Shell & Bizarre Interior
" The tough icy shell of Saturn's largest moon Titan is apparently far stronger than previously thought, researchers say.
These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.
Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]
To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.
The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.
What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.
"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."
To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."
Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.
Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.
It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.
This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.
Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.
One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.
"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."
To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."
The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."
These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.
Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]
To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.
The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.
What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.
"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."
To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."
Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.
Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.
It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.
This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.
Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.
One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.
"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."
To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."
The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."
Saturn Moon Titan Sports Thick Icy Shell & Bizarre Interior
" The tough icy shell of Saturn's largest moon Titan is apparently far stronger than previously thought, researchers say.
These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.
Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]
To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.
The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.
What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.
"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."
To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."
Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.
Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.
It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.
This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.
Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.
One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.
"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."
To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."
The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."
These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.
Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]
To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.
The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.
What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.
"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."
To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."
Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.
Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.
It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.
This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.
Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.
One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.
"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."
To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."
The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."
Saturn Moon Titan Sports Thick Icy Shell & Bizarre Interior
" The tough icy shell of Saturn's largest moon Titan is apparently far stronger than previously thought, researchers say.
These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.
Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]
To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.
The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.
What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.
"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."
To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."
Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.
Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.
It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.
This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.
Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.
One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.
"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."
To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."
The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."
These surprising new findings add to hints Titan possesses an extraordinarily bizarre interior, scientists added.
Past research suggested Titan has an ocean hidden under its outer icy shell 30 to 120 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) thick. Investigators aim to explore this underground ocean in the hopes of finding alien life on Titan, since virtually wherever there is water on Earth, there is life. [See more photos of Titan, Saturn's largest moon]
To learn more about Titan's icy shell, planetary scientist Doug Hemingway at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed the Cassini probe's scans of Titan's gravity field. The strength of the gravitational pull any point on a surface exerts depends on the amount of mass underneath it. The stronger the pull, the more the mass.
The researchers then compared these gravity results with the structure of Titan's surface. They expected that regions of high elevation would have the strongest gravitational pull, since one might suppose they had extra matter underneath them. Conversely, they expected regions of low elevation would have the weakest gravitational pull.
What the investigators discovered shocked them. The regions of high elevation on Titan had the weakest gravitational pull.
"It was very surprising to see that," Hemingway told SPACE.com. "We assumed at first that we got things wrong, that we were seeing the data backwards, but after we ran out of options to make that finding go away, we came up with a model that explains these observations."
To explain these gravity anomalies, Hemingway said to imagine mountains on Titan having roots. "It's like how most of an iceberg actually lies submerged underwater," he said. "If that root is really big, bigger than normal, it would displace water underneath it."
Ice has a lower density than water — a chunk of ice weighs less than a similar volume of water. These high-elevation areas on Titan apparently have roots large enough to displace a lot of water under them, meaning they exert a weaker gravitational pull.
Ice is buoyant in water. "In order to essentially hold these big icebergs down and keep them from bobbing up, that means Titan's shell has to be extremely rigid," Hemingway said.
It remains uncertain what makes Titan's shell this rigid. The ice might possess cage-like molecules known as clathrates that could make it stiffer. Also, "if the ocean underneath the shell is colder than before thought, that could make the ice shell thicker and thus more rigid," Hemingway said.
This rigidity could mean Titan's shell is less geologically active than once thought. "If at least the top 40 kilometers (25 miles) is very stiff and cold and dead, if you want something like cryovolcanoes that erupt water instead of lava on Titan's surface, you have to be more creative about how that might happen," Hemingway said.
Their model also suggests Titan's shell has seen an extensive amount of erosion, with features carved more than 650 feet (200 meters) deep on it surface. "We now need different groups of people to figure out how so much material could get broken up and transported long distances across Titan's surface," Hemingway said.
One implication of these new findings relates to whether or not Titan's interior is separated into distinct layers. If researchers have underestimated Titan's gravity field, one might suspect its core is a giant blob of matter that is not made up of distinct layers as one would expect from such a large body. For instance, Earth is separated into a crust, mantle and core, and even large asteroids such as Vesta seem to have interiors divided into several layers.
"Maybe Titan is a mixture of ice and rock from the core nearly all the way out, and it's only in the last part near its surface that it's differentiated into ice and water," Hemingway said. "But we could be wrong there."
To help solve this mystery, "what we need is a Titan orbiter," Hemingway said. "That way we can have much better readings of Titan and learn more about its ice shell and its interior."
The scientists detailed their findings in the Aug. 29 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com."
Does Stacy Keibler Have a New Billionaire Boyfriend?
"Has Stacy Keibler already moved on from ex George Clooney? Well, … yes and no.
A new report from Life & Style on Wednesday claims the 33-year-old beauty has a new man in her life.
"She's dating millionaire Jared Pobre, and it's pretty serious," a pal tells the tabloid. "She was in Europe with him and all over Italy a couple of weeks ago."
However, sources close to the former WWE wrestler tell omg! that's not entirely true.
"They aren't dating," an insider tells omg!. "They have been friends for years."
Don't take that to mean Stacy is still pining over Clooney, 52.
"They ended on good terms," another source tells omg!. "They remain friends, she's doing just fine."
Clearly!
The 5'11" stunner was photographed yacht hopping with recently single Naomi Campbell earlier this month in Ibiza, Spain.
"She's having a great time hanging with friends," the second Keibler insider insists.
Sounds like this "Supermarket Superstar" is still very much on the market."
A new report from Life & Style on Wednesday claims the 33-year-old beauty has a new man in her life.
"She's dating millionaire Jared Pobre, and it's pretty serious," a pal tells the tabloid. "She was in Europe with him and all over Italy a couple of weeks ago."
However, sources close to the former WWE wrestler tell omg! that's not entirely true.
"They aren't dating," an insider tells omg!. "They have been friends for years."
Don't take that to mean Stacy is still pining over Clooney, 52.
"They ended on good terms," another source tells omg!. "They remain friends, she's doing just fine."
Clearly!
The 5'11" stunner was photographed yacht hopping with recently single Naomi Campbell earlier this month in Ibiza, Spain.
"She's having a great time hanging with friends," the second Keibler insider insists.
Sounds like this "Supermarket Superstar" is still very much on the market."
Kamis, 29 Agustus 2013
Jessica Simpson Shows Off Son Ace Knute for the First Time
"Nearly two months after giving birth to son Ace Knute, Jessica Simpson is ready to share her baby boy with the world!
The 33-year-old, who welcomed the newest addition on June 30, is debuting her little one on the cover of Us Weekly, posing along with 15-month-old daughter Maxwell.
Jessica Simpson, Maxwell Johnson, and Ace Knute Johnson (UsWeekly)
The mommy-of-two, who has been engaged to fiancé Eric Johnson since November 2010, seems to be happier than ever, telling the mag, "With two kids, we have our hands full, but every day is a new adventure. … It's fun! I feel very at peace with being a mom."
But will the cute couple, who had back-to-back babies, add more to their beautiful brood anytime soon?
"Pregnancy is alot. It was hard to do two so close together," admits the fashion mogul mama. "I have this huge sense of accomplishment, and I feel in my heart that I'm done. But obviously, accidents do happen!"
Check out the video for details on Jessica's life as a mom, and be sure to tune in to "omg! Insider" on TV tonight for more on this story."
The 33-year-old, who welcomed the newest addition on June 30, is debuting her little one on the cover of Us Weekly, posing along with 15-month-old daughter Maxwell.
Jessica Simpson, Maxwell Johnson, and Ace Knute Johnson (UsWeekly)
The mommy-of-two, who has been engaged to fiancé Eric Johnson since November 2010, seems to be happier than ever, telling the mag, "With two kids, we have our hands full, but every day is a new adventure. … It's fun! I feel very at peace with being a mom."
But will the cute couple, who had back-to-back babies, add more to their beautiful brood anytime soon?
"Pregnancy is alot. It was hard to do two so close together," admits the fashion mogul mama. "I have this huge sense of accomplishment, and I feel in my heart that I'm done. But obviously, accidents do happen!"
Check out the video for details on Jessica's life as a mom, and be sure to tune in to "omg! Insider" on TV tonight for more on this story."
Romania says Canadian gold mine of national interest
"Romania's government on Tuesday approved a draft law granting national interest status to a Canadian gold mine project in Transylvania despite protests from historians and environmentalists.
The draft law, which will have to get approval from Parliament, declares the mine project of "exceptional national interest" and will facilitate expropriation procedures.
It also brings the royalty rate for the Romanian state from a current 4.0 percent to 6.0 percent while its stake in the company exploiting the mine would gradually rise from a current 20 percent to 25 percent.
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), controlled by Canadian firm Gabriel Resources, plans to open an open-cast gold mine in the village of Rosia Montana, in the heart of Transylvania, a region praised by Prince Charles for its stunning nature.
The village is said to hold one of the biggest gold deposits in Europe and the company has promised 800 to 900 jobs during the 16-year extraction period.
The project has triggered fierce opposition as the mine would use 12,000 tonnes of cyanide a year in a leaching process, 12 times the amount used in gold mining in the whole of Europe, according to 2011 industry figures.
Four mountains surrounding the village will be partially destroyed in the process and Roman mining galleries unique in Europe will be damaged, archeologists and historians have warned.
"Democracy and human rights are not respected in Romania but we will fight", Eugen David, a local farmer and head of a group opposing the project, told AFP.
Opponents denounced the fact that the government did not publish the controversial draft law on the agenda of the cabinet meeting nor on its website prior to its decision.
Gabriel Resources did not comment the government move.
Gabriel Resources acquired a mining licence for Rosia Montana in 1999.
Since then, it has been waiting for a crucial permit from the ministry of environment. The government has not said how advanced the permit application was."
The draft law, which will have to get approval from Parliament, declares the mine project of "exceptional national interest" and will facilitate expropriation procedures.
It also brings the royalty rate for the Romanian state from a current 4.0 percent to 6.0 percent while its stake in the company exploiting the mine would gradually rise from a current 20 percent to 25 percent.
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), controlled by Canadian firm Gabriel Resources, plans to open an open-cast gold mine in the village of Rosia Montana, in the heart of Transylvania, a region praised by Prince Charles for its stunning nature.
The village is said to hold one of the biggest gold deposits in Europe and the company has promised 800 to 900 jobs during the 16-year extraction period.
The project has triggered fierce opposition as the mine would use 12,000 tonnes of cyanide a year in a leaching process, 12 times the amount used in gold mining in the whole of Europe, according to 2011 industry figures.
Four mountains surrounding the village will be partially destroyed in the process and Roman mining galleries unique in Europe will be damaged, archeologists and historians have warned.
"Democracy and human rights are not respected in Romania but we will fight", Eugen David, a local farmer and head of a group opposing the project, told AFP.
Opponents denounced the fact that the government did not publish the controversial draft law on the agenda of the cabinet meeting nor on its website prior to its decision.
Gabriel Resources did not comment the government move.
Gabriel Resources acquired a mining licence for Rosia Montana in 1999.
Since then, it has been waiting for a crucial permit from the ministry of environment. The government has not said how advanced the permit application was."
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