Eldorado Gold

The new year is set to be a milestone for Canadian group Eldorado Gold and its Greek subsidiary Hellas Gold. According to the program recently presented by the company's management to analysts, the mining operation in Skouries, Halkidiki - also Eldorado's largest - is on course to be put into operation gradually over the next year.

The Skouries mining project in Halkidiki, northern Greece, alongside the Olympiada and Mavres Petres mines and other facilities belonging to Kassandra Mines, constitutes a pillar of strong growth for Eldorado Gold, according to the management of the Canadian group.

Eldorado Gold's assets in Greece are key to its strategic development plans, the CEO of the Canadian company, George Burns, said on Monday, underlining that the copper deposits at Skouries are so significant that the company will become one of the largest copper producers in the European Union.

Canadian miner Eldorado Gold announced the restart of operations for the development its long-delayed Skouries gold-copper project in northern Greece, after it secured 680 million euros last April to fund the project.

The aim is to begin commercial production by the end of 2025, early 2026.

Hellas Gold and its parent Eldorado Gold Corporation on Wednesday announced they had reached an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to provide financial support worth $60 million for the development of the Skouries gold and copper mine project. 

Eldorado Gold Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary Hellas Gold announced on Wednesday they had completed the 680-million-euro financing for the development of the Skouries project in northern Greece.

The funding agreement is structured to provide 80% of the funding required to complete the project, with the remaining 20% to be funded by Eldorado Gold.

The government signed on Friday a revised contract with Eldorado Gold Corporation, covering its mining operations in northern Greece, where it has faced repeated stalling over licensing delays and environmental concerns.

Eldorado has been in talks with the Greek government on a revised investment plan that would secure higher royalties from mining development and new jobs.

Hellas Gold recorded its best quarterly production in a year-and-a-half at Halkidiki in central Macedonia in the January-March 2020 period, according to provisional figures released by parent company Eldorado Gold last week.
The Canadian group's subsidiary in Greece produced 15,181 ounces of gold at the Olympiada gold mines, up 53 percent from about 9,900 a year earlier.

Eldorado Gold is seeking to make substantial changes to the contracts for the mines in Halkidiki, while searching for a strategic investor that will help share the cost of an investment plan that is proving too expensive for the Canadian company to undertake on its own.

Eldorado Gold Corp is open to discussions on potentially paying higher royalties in Greece as it seeks permits needed to restart work at its stalled Skouries development, chief executive officer George Burns said on Monday.