Eldorado Gold suspends much of its mine construction in Greece

Canadian miner Eldorado Gold Corp on Monday said it will suspend much of its mine construction and development in Greece after a year of confrontations with the Greek government that included permits being revoked and delayed by the state, according to Reuters news agency.

Eldorado said it will suspend construction at its Skouries project and warned that it would do the same at its Olympias project if it did not receive a permit by the end of March, Reuters said.

It has halted development work its Perama Hill and Sapes projects but could restart at a later date. The company is also considering whether to halt future expansion of its Stratoni mine, which has around three years of life left.

Eldorado said in a statement that it would prefer to create more jobs and carry on with construction and development in Greece.

“However, we have a duty to all our stakeholders and the significant time and process risks created by Greece’s Ministry of Energy and Environment have left us with no choice but to reduce activities and personnel,” Eldorado Chief Executive Officer Paul Wright said.

Eldorado has created around 2,000 direct jobs in Greece, it said. It did not say, however, how many jobs would be affected by its reduction in activities. The company has invested more than 300 million dollars in the Skouries project.

Eldorado will hold a press conference in Athens at 11 a.m. local time on Tuesday and a conference call at 3 p.m.