Hellas Gold on Thursday announced that the utilization of the gold and copper deposits at the Skouries mine in Halkidiki can now proceed, as the board of parent company Eldorado Gold has approved the decision to invest 680 million euros. The total life of the mine will be some 20 years, with an average annual production of 140,000 ounces of gold and 67 million pounds of copper. Production, the firm said, is expected to begin in the second half of 2025. The resumption of the project at Skouries and its entry into the production phase is part of the company’s new investment plan that has been agreed, amounting to €3.1 billion.
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.
The proposed mine, which has reserves of 3.7 million ounces of gold and 1.7 billion pounds of copper, was halted from 2017 to 2021 due to government delays in issuing permits and local opposition.
Construction work began in 2017 and have been completed up to 50% with an investment worth 550 million US dollars. Another 845 million investment will be needed to complete work in Skouries which is expected to produce 140,000 ounces of gold and 67 million lb of copper annually with a life span of around 20 years.
Christos Balaskas, managing director of Eldorado Greece and vice-president for Greece, said that the combined operation of all mining fields in Kassandra will make Greece the third largest gold producer in Europe with annual production of 215,000 ounces, after Sweden (260,421) and Finland (247,560).
Completion of works will need new investments worth 1.9 billion euros and will produce exports worth 11 billion, public revenue of around 2 billion euros, 5,000 new job positions and environment investments worth 120 million euros.
