Greece halts activity at Canadian-run gold mine

Shares of Eldorado Gold (EGO – Get Report) were falling 9.79% to $3.78 on heavy trading volume Wednesday after Greek officials halted activity at one of the gold miner’s operations in northern Greece.

Eldorado, which has been battling to develop Skouries in the face of government opposition, fell 10 percent to C$4.90 at 10:01 a.m.in Toronto, the most intraday since January 30. This pilot scale test work was completed at Outotec’s comprehensive metallurgical and smelting facility in Finland, while the Ministry contends that it should have been done at site in Halkidiki.

In a statement released late Wednesday, Eldorado said technical studies related to its Skouries and Olympias projects were suspended after notification from the energy ministry, with work continuing at all its projects near Halkidiki in northern Greece.

Eldorado Gold chief executive officer Paul Wright said: “We are most disappointed and perplexed by this entirely inappropriate decision of the Ministry of Energy, which puts 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in Greece at risk, including the jobs of 2,000 Greek employees and contractors of Hellas Gold”.

Eldorado said it will take legal action once a review of the ministry’s decision is completed.

The mining project has been deeply controversial and has met with fierce resistance from those saying it will irreparably damage the environment.

Eldorado Gold’s vice-president and general manager for Greece, Eduardo Moura, said the company had not received any formal notice from the ministry and was therefore not in a position to comment.

Skourletis told reporters after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that financially-troubled Greece – which recently secured its third global bailout – welcomes foreign investment.

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