Eldorado to restart works at Skouries gold project in Greece

After securing approval, Hellas Gold will now be able to resume construction activities at the Skouries project site, which were suspended in January due to environmental concerns.

Eldorado Gold is set to restart construction at its stalled Skouries gold project in Halkidiki after securing approval from Greek authorities.

The company’s Greek subsidiary Hellas Gold received approval from Greece’s Ministry of Energy and Environment for the project’s updated technical study.

After securing approval, Hellas Gold will now be able to resume construction activities at the Skouries project site, which were suspended in January due to environmental concerns.

Hellas Gold secured a building permit for the Skouries processing plant from the Planning Office of the Aristotle Municipality in Halkidiki in February.

Eldorado Gold president and CEO Paul Wright said: “This constructive engagement has contributed to other recent approvals including the Skouries Building Permit, and the Olympias Installation Permit.

“I believe there now exists a greatly improved shared understanding, appreciation and alignment between the company and the ministry in regards to the substantial benefits to be gained by the Greek society and economy through the collaborative responsible development of mineral resources in Greece.”

Eldorado invested more than $300m at its Skouries project to date.

Skouries will operate as an open-pit mine for around seven years, followed by a further 20 years of underground development.

Furthermore, Eldorado is proposing to work with the ministry to advance the Olympias project.

In March, Hellas Gold secured a licence from Greece’s Ministry of Environment and Energy for its Olympias mine in the north of the country.

The permit enabled the company to set-up a processing plant in Olympias.

Source: Mining technology