THE NEW ROMANS

Rosia Montana Gold Corp., known simply as "Gold" among the locals. It is 80.5% owned by Gabriel Resources, a Toronto-based public company that plans to spend $1 billion to develop Europe's biggest gold mine, which would surround the Transylvanian mountain village of Rosia Montana, turning it into an island in a sea of rubble. Gabriel Resources' ambitious project at the Romanian town of Rosia Montana would consume the hills around the town - and remove the homes of people like Estera Szekely. Gabriel has already bought out many of the properties in Rosia Montana to make way for the mine. Szekely says the tension between the residents who want to sell their properties to Gabriel and those who don't is unbearable. This is the face of gold fever, a compulsion to develop the planet's dwindling reserves that is so intense that mining companies find practically no obstacle to mine development to be insurmountable. The value of this precious metal may at bottom be more notional than practical, but here, as in places all over the world, the lust for more of the stuff requires drastic measures like uprooting an ancient town. The fate of Rosia Montana is not yet sealed. Gabriel has waged a marathon battle against a variety of opponents to develop its mine-and it now believes it's finally on the verge of winning. The struggle plays like an epic, spanning decades and featuring a dazzling international cast.