Eldorado Wins Greek Court Approval for Skouries Gold Mine

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Two favorable court decisions in Greece will allow gold-mining company Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE:EGO) (Vancouver, British Columbia) to get the construction its Skouries gold/copper mine in the north of the country back on track.

The Council of State, Greece's Supreme Court on administrative and environmental matters, has issued two court decisions in favor of Eldorado's subsidiary, Hellas Gold S.A. (Stratoni, Greece). They relate to forestry land and site-clearing rights at the company's Skouries gold/copper project on the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece.

The project was dealt a severe blow in March when the new Greek government revoked key permissions. At the time, Eldorado had invested more than $450 million since 2012 on construction and development of the Skouries and Olympias mines in the country. The favorable court decisions now clear the way for investment to continue. At the time work was suspended, the mine employed 2,000 workers, with promises of another 1,000 jobs by 2020. Eldorado believes that the mine could be worth more than $500 million per year to Greece in export revenues from 2017.

"The decisions of the Council of State confirm once more the legality of our activities in northern Greece," said Paul Wright, chief executive officer of Eldorado. "This will allow Eldorado to accelerate construction activities at our Skouries Project in Halkidiki, generating additional long term employment opportunities for the Greek people and taxes to the Greek government. Mining is one of the industries that can help kick-start the Greek economy and support the beginnings of a recovery."

The mine's construction will be in two phases. The first phase consists of a small, open pit, with production expected in 2016, according to Eldorado. The second phase will see production move underground. The project will use a metallurgical process that will produce a clean copper-gold concentrate via flotation as well as doré from a gravity circuit.

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.

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