site.btaGold Mining on Bozhurishte Municipality Territory Rejected in Referendum

A total of 96.82% of people eligible to vote in the municipality of Bozhurishte rejected the conduct of exploration activities and gold mining in the Zlatusha area in a referendum held on Sunday, the Bozhurishte Municipal Election Commission (BMEC) said on Monday. 

The Zlatusha area spans the territory of Sofia Municipality, Sofia Province, the municipalities of Dragoman, Slivnitsa, Bozhurishte, Breznik, and Pernik.

As many as 4,024 out of 6,815 eligible voters cast their ballot. Of them, 3,896 gave an affirmative answer to the following question: “Are you opposed to the Bozhurishte Municipal Council and the Mayor of the municipality of Bozhurishte issuing and coordinating spatial plans and decisions concerning areas for the extraction of metallic minerals, underground resources that fall fully or partially within the area of the municipality's territory defined in Decision No. 486/2018 of the Energy Minister?".

The proposal, which is the subject of the referendum, gets accepted if at least 40% of eligible voters in the municipality concerned have participated in the vote and more than half of the participants in the referendum have given a 'Yes' answer.

BMEC declared the proposal accepted. It is appealable before the Sofia Region Administrative Court within a seven-day period, the Commission said on its website.

Sunday’s voting took place in 12 voting sections on the territory of the Bozhurishte municipality, along with the elections for the National Assembly and European Parliament.

The referendum was held at the initiative of all Bozhurishte municipal councillors, whose reasons are related to a contract for a project for prospecting and exploration of minerals in the Zlatusha area.