Canadian multinational Eldorado Gold’s often tumultuous course in Greece dominated a presentation this week of the company’s economic results for Q1 2016, in a presentation by CEO Paul Wright himself.
According to the top mining executive, Eldorado’s activities in Greece recorded progress, given the recent approval of an amendment for a necessary technical study for the Skouries site, as well as a construction license for the Olympiada mine site. Both projects are located in Halkidiki prefecture of northern Greece, with the first the object of intense opposition by both environmental activists, a portion of the local residents and even the current leftist government.
The Skouries project was given a "green light" to proceed just last week.
Wright said total expenditures for the Greek projects reached 21.7 million euros during the period. Conversely, the multinational’s gold production in Greece in the first trimester of 2016 reached nearly 141,000 ounces, with the median operational cost of 603 dollars per ounce, up from 521 dollars per ounce in 2015.
Revenue reached 160 million dollars from the sale of 133,467 ounces of gold, with an average price of the precious metal at 1,198 US dollars per ounce.
Wright added that Eldorado Gold, through its Greek subsidiary Hellas Gold, remains devoted to achieving economic goals that have been set by management at the beginning of the year.
Additionally, he announced an agreement for the sale of the Jinfeng mine in China for 300 million US dollars.