(Bloomberg) -- Gabriel Resources Ltd., a Canadian developer which aimed to build one of Europe’s largest gold and silver mines, has lost a $4.4 billion damages claim against Romania for quashing the project more than a decade ago over environmental concerns.

The World Bank’s international settlement arm dismissed Gabriel’s case and awarded Romania about $10 million in legal fees and expenses, the company said in a statement on Friday.

In an arbitration claim filed in 2015, Gabriel alleged that Romania’s government had unlawfully blocked permits for the development of the Rosia Montana project in Transylvania, disregarded existing license rights, and ignored all requests for negotiation.

“We fought for Romania because it would’ve been unjust to punish every pensioner and employee,” Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who took office in 2023, said in a statement.

Calling the decision “deeply flawed,” Gabriel said it was evaluating its options, including a possible appeal.

Gabriel had spent more than a decade trying to build the mine in Rosia Montana, a commune located in the western part of Romania with an ancient Roman gold mining complex that’s now a Unesco World Heritage Site. 

The company was close to getting the green light for the project in 2013, after Romania’s government approved a draft law declaring the mine to be of “exceptional national interest.” However, as the vote for parliamentary backing neared, protesters took to the streets in the capital Bucharest, prompting then-Prime Minister Victor Ponta to urge lawmakers to reject the plan.

Much of the opposition to the mine was due to the use of cyanide, which is used to dissolve and separate gold from ore.

--With assistance from Andra Timu.

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