Eldorado Gold's Skouries project, in Northern Greece.
Photo by: Eldorado Gold
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Multinational miner Eldorado Gold has threatened legal action against the Greek government’s suspension of its Skouries and Olympias gold project development permits, in Halkidiki, northern Greece.
"We are most disappointed and perplexed by this entirely inappropriate decision of the Ministry, which puts 5 000 direct and indirect jobs in Greece at risk, including the jobs of 2 000 Greek employees and contractors of [subsidiary] Hellas Gold,” CEO Paul Wright stated late on Wednesday.
Eldorado confirmed that the Greek Energy Ministry’s suspension was based on the pilot-scale testwork on the Olympias Phase III flash smelting process being completed at Outotec's metallurgical and smelting facility, in Finland.
The Ministry argued that it should have been undertaken on site in Halkidiki.
News agency Reuters reported that Energy Minister Panos Skourletis said earlier on Wednesday that the project had been halted but could resume if the company fulfilled contract terms. The project included operating gold mines and two factories under construction that would enable Eldorado to process gold and other minerals in Greece, rather than overseas.
The ailing Greek economy badly needed such projects to help diversify its struggling economy. The country had just secured its third international bailout.
Eldorado advised that work at all of its Halkidiki operations and projects continued as normal; however, Hellas might be forced to suspend all its mining and development activities in the district owing to what it termed a “rash decision” by the Ministry of Energy.
Wright explained that over the course of the last three years, Hellas had received several favourable decisions from the Council of State, Greece's Supreme Court on administrative and environmental matters, which had all confirmed the legality of its activities in Halkidiki.
“We will once more take legal action against a decision of the Ministry to safeguard the rights of Eldorado, Hellas Gold, our Greek employees and the communities and stakeholders that support our projects in Halkidiki,” Wright said.