A company owned by Canada's Gabriel Resources said Tuesday it still hopes to start digging for gold in Romania in 2014, despite a negative vote by a parliamentary committee.

The panel on Monday rejected a draft law submitted by the centre-left government clearing the way for the mine.

But Rosia Montana Gold Corporation CEO Dragos Tanase said he hoped parliament will adopt a new law soon to encourage mining and attract investors.

"Such new legislation would help the Rosia Montana project start in the first half of 2014 while the whole Romanian economy would benefit from the positive economic impact of mining," Tanase said.

Monday's vote came after the ruling coalition decided to reject the bill it had first proposed following mass protests over the past weeks.

Gabriel Resources hopes to extract 300 tonnes of gold from a mine in a picturesque village in Transylvania, and has promised 900 jobs during the 16-year extraction period.

The project will also use thousands of tonnes of cyanide to extract the precious metal and require hundreds of families to be relocated.

Archeologists say the mine will damage Roman-era mining galeries in addition to destroying four mountain tops.