The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that Gabriel Resources once harboured ambitions to build one of Europe's largest gold and silver mines in the Carpathian mountains of Romania. The Post's Gabriel Friedman writes that the proposed mining area, however, is now on the UNESCO World Heritage list and Gabriel just lost an eight-year legal battle with Romania that has left Gabriel's future uncertain. Gabriel's experience shows how shifting attitudes on resource extraction and an evolving global financial system have changed the business of mining. The main investing thesis behind Gabriel for more than a decade has been its arbitration claim against Romania at the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. In it, Gabriel was seeking $4.4-billion (U.S.) from Romania for blocking its proposed mine. Investors had piled into Gabriel in recent months anticipating an end to the legal saga. Its stock price doubled to as high as 88 cents last week from 43 cents in early January. Investors, however, decamped even more quickly after the arbitration panel on March 8 issued a 2-to-1 decision that rejected Gabriel's claim and awarded Romania $10-million (U.S.) in legal fees and expenses.