Thomas Kaplan Panthera Corporation c/o Tigris Financial 1370 Avenue of the Americas 19th Floor NY, NY 10019 Fax: +1 646 7860401 cc.: Alan Rabinowitz, George Schaller, Luke Hunter, Andrea Heydlauff & Jessica Craig 29 July 2008 Dear Mr. Kaplan, We are writing to you as a group of civil society organizations and funders involved in environmental and social justice work around the world. For several years we have been monitoring Gabriel Resources’ highly controversial proposal for a gold/silver mine at Rosia Montana in Romania. If constructed this mine would be the largest of its kind in Europe. We would like to voice our opposition to your decision to purchase 14.4 percent of Gabriel Resources (TSX:GBU) via ‘Electrum Strategic Holdings’, one of your companies. In this letter we have set out some of the reasons why the Rosia Montana project is so widely opposed, along with some of the risks associated with the project. We hope that you will reconsider your investment in the light of this information. In particular we would like to highlight the contradiction between investing in Gabriel Resources and your personal leadership in the environmental and conservation fields, as founder and chairman of the Panthera Foundation. Impacts of the Rosia Montana project Given that the gold and silver deposits sit in and around Rosia Montana, Gabriel Resources’ proposal requires the destruction of two currently inhabited valleys, with their forests and meadows, the involuntary resettlement of over 2,000 people, and the destruction of churches, cemeteries, listed buildings and unique archaeological sites. The proposed mine would be on the site of Romania's oldest documented mining settlement. The area is a treasure trove of important archaeological remains, including Roman temples, spas, fortified buildings, and mine galleries. Recent excavations have for the first time identified mine works dating back to the Dacian period. The clear-cutting of 250 hectares of forest and the creation of four open pits and a 400 hectare tailings pond will seriously damage the environment and create enormous risks for generations to come. The tailings pond is projected to hold 200 million tonnes of heavy metal wastes held in place by a 185 metre high tailings dam, which Gabriel Resources also plans to use for a further mine extension into the Bucium valley. As you may know, Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is one of the most significant environmental problems caused by mining. An overall average sulphur grade of 1.9 percent has been calculated for
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