February 9 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian municipality of Trun said it will hold a referendum on whether the local authorities should decline to approve zoning plans envisaging mining and processing of mineral resources.
The referendum will be held on March 26 together with general elections, the municipality said in a statement posted on its website.
The decision comes after a project for gold and silver mining in Trun area, including on the site of a closed uranium mine, prompted protests by local people who fear the project poses a threat to the environment and their health.
The investor, Euromax Services - a subsidiary of Bulgarian copper mining company Asarel-Medet, plans to mine for gold in a 19 sq km area.
According to local daily Capital, Euromax Services plans to invest over 100 million levs ($54.5 million/51.1 million euro) in the project.
Trun municipiality, near the border with Serbia, has a population of 4,600.
Earlier this month president Rumen Radev vetoed a bill introducing questionable changes to the concession law which drew fire from environmentalists.
The parliament passed the legislation with a slim majority just days before Radev dissolved it and called an early general election. The legislation provides for abolishing the maximum 35-year term of concession contracts and gives the right to open a concession procedure to individual government ministers as well as mayors.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)