Eldorado Gold mining company perplexed at Greek decision to suspend operations in Skouries

Eldorado Gold, has released a statement regarding the decision by Greek Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment & Energy confirming that Hellas Gold S.A. – a Greek subsidiary of the Canadian Company – has been made aware of the Greek Minister’s notification suspending the technical studies pertaining to the Skouries and Olympias projects in Halkidiki, northern Greece. The Canadian company’s CEO, Paul Wright commented: “We are most disappointed and perplexed by this entirely inappropriate decision of the Ministry of Energy, which puts 5,000 direct and indirect jobs inGreece at risk, including the jobs of 2,000 Greek employees and contractors of Hellas Gold.  We have received numerous favorable decisions of the Council of State – Greece’s Supreme Court on administrative and environmental matters – over the course of the last three years, which confirm the legality of our activities in Halkidiki.  We will once more take legal action against a decision of the Ministry in order to safeguard the rights of Eldorado, Hellas Gold, our Greek employees and the communities and stakeholders that support our projects in Halkidiki.  At this time, work at all our Halkidiki operations and projects continues as normal; however, Hellas Gold may be forced to suspend all its mining and development activities in Halkidiki due to this rash decision by the Ministry of Energy.”