What mining meant at Roșia Montană, as the people there remember it: a study from Alba Iulia interviewed seven priests and surveyed 327 locals, including 45 who were relocated

Four researchers from the University of Alba Iulia traced how the meaning of mining changed at Romania's most contested gold site across four eras: late communism, the years after 1989 up to the closure of the state mine, the Roșia Montană Gold Corporation project, and what remained after the company withdrew. Their finding: under communism the mine was remembered not just as a workplace but as a source of order, prestige and identity; the transition brought moral ambivalence; the corporate years polarised the community. Open access, and no newsroom covered it.