Eldorado Restarts Controversial Greek Gold Project

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE:EGO) (Vancouver, British Columbia) is to resume work "immediately" at its controversial gold mining project in northern Greece following an injunction that overrules the government's stop-work order issued in August.

The country's Council of State, which is the Supreme Court on administrative and environmental matters, issued an injunction relief in favor of Eldorado's subsidiary, Hellas Gold S.A., and its Skouries gold/copper project, which is located on the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece.

In August, just days after the same court granted two decisions in favor of work at the project, the government's Ministry of Energy and Environment intervened and forced the project to shut down. The project is also under fire from environmentalists.

The estimated output at the Skouries mine is 150,000 ounces per year (Oz/yr) of gold and 30,000 tonnes per year (T/yr) of copper. The mine has an estimated lifespan of 27 years, and according to Eldorado, it could be worth more than $500 million per year to Greece in export revenues from 2017. The mine employs 2,000 workers, with another 1,000 jobs promised by 2020. The company already has invested $450 million so far in the Skouries and Olympias mining projects, with a further $200 million needed to get Skouries fully finished.

"The injunction relief granted by the Council of State once again demonstrates the integrity and legality of our permits in Halkidiki, Northern Greece," said Paul N. Wright, chief executive officer of Eldorado. "We will resume our mining and construction activities in Halkidiki and bring our employees and contractors back to work, effective immediately. Furthermore, we will continue to engage in constructive dialogue with the Ministry of Energy with a view to addressing any concerns the Ministry might have."

The conflict between Eldorado and the government goes back to earlier this year, when the new, anti-austerity Greek government revoked key permissions for the project, claiming Eldorado had violated the terms of some technical studies.

Wright argued: "Mining can make an important contribution to the economic recovery of Greece and we wish to work together with the Ministry of Energy in order to generate job opportunities for the Greek people, pay taxes to the Greek Government, and support economic growth through best available environmental, engineering, health, safety, and community engagement practices. This approach, which Eldorado has successfully adopted over the last two decades in various other jurisdictions, will benefit all stakeholders."

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