# The Romanian silver mine > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The Romanian silver mine," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/romanian-silver-mine/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The private-intelligence assignment John Kiriakou uses to explain what commercial analysis actually buys: a mining client wanted to know who would win a Romanian municipal election, because a silver deposit lay under a village that would have to be destroyed to reach it.* - **Client:** The largest mining company in the world - **Question asked:** Who wins the Romanian municipal elections in September? - **Method:** LinkedIn requests to Orthodox Romanians; private polling data - **Outcome:** Mine bought at the pre-election price; village relocated and destroyed The **Romanian silver mine** is the case [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) tells to explain what [private intelligence](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/private-intelligence) analysis is, as distinct from private investigation — and, he says, *"a lot more fun."* Working for himself between government jobs, he had three big clients: the ninth-largest hedge fund in the world, a mutual fund, and the largest mining company in the world, plus a contract for an oil company.[1][2] They asked very specific questions. One of them was: who is going to win the Romanian municipal elections in September?[3] ## The method Kiriakou's reaction was that he knew nothing about Romania. His solution was LinkedIn and a shared religion: he is [Greek Orthodox](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/greek-orthodox-church) and, as he puts it, everybody in Romania is Orthodox, so he sent connection requests to everybody who looked interesting and happened to be Orthodox in Romania — about sixty people — and asked his question. One of them gave him private polling data.[3][4] ## Why they were asking He then did what he says a good analyst does and asked the client why they cared. They told him: they were thinking of buying a silver mine, the silver lay underneath a village, and to mine it the whole village would have to be destroyed. If the socialists won they would not be allowed to do it; if the conservatives won, the villagers would simply be relocated.[4][5] Kiriakou told them the polls said the conservatives would win. They bought the mine at the pre-election price. The conservatives won, the village was moved out and destroyed, and the company took billions of dollars' worth of silver out of the ground.[6] He files the episode alongside the other questions clients put to him — should I do business in Yemen, should I buy that silver mine in Romania — as the everyday substance of commercial intelligence work.[7] ## See also - [Private Intelligence](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/private-intelligence) - [Oman Oil Lease](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/oman-oil-lease) - [Cypriot Billionaire Investigation](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cypriot-billionaire-investigation) - [The Greek Orthodox Church](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/greek-orthodox-church) ## Sources 1. The Most Secret CIA Unit Ever (2026-05-24), at 21:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQKwm0KKqnM&t=1272s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-24-john-kiriakou-podcast-the-most-secret-cia-unit-ever/ 2. Dalton Fischer Podcast (2025-09-09), at 03:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn_cApN--DY&t=218s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-09-dalton-fischer-podcast-dalton-fischer-podcast/ 3. The Most Secret CIA Unit Ever (2026-05-24), at 21:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQKwm0KKqnM&t=1302s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-24-john-kiriakou-podcast-the-most-secret-cia-unit-ever/ 4. The Most Secret CIA Unit Ever (2026-05-24), at 22:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQKwm0KKqnM&t=1334s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-24-john-kiriakou-podcast-the-most-secret-cia-unit-ever/ 5. Dalton Fischer Podcast (2025-09-09), at 04:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn_cApN--DY&t=278s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-09-dalton-fischer-podcast-dalton-fischer-podcast/ 6. The Most Secret CIA Unit Ever (2026-05-24), at 22:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQKwm0KKqnM&t=1365s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-24-john-kiriakou-podcast-the-most-secret-cia-unit-ever/ 7. Lies, Spin, Propaganda & Manipulation (w/ Suelette Dreyfus) (2021-03-04), at 11:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WA64yu3itQ&t=667s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-03-04-consortium-news-lies-spin-propaganda-manipulation-w-suelette/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/romanian-silver-mine/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt