TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Eldorado Gold, which bought Australia's Sino Gold last year, has received the approvals it needs to reopen the White Mountain mine, in Jilin province, China.

Production has now restarted at the underground mine, which Eldorado acquired through the Sino deal.

The White Mountain operation started commercial production in January 2009, but was halted in early August after road access to the mine was blocked by a group of farmers concerned about water discharged from the mine.

However, the mine is now able to discharge treated water under an approved change to the environmental-impact assessment, the firm reported on Tuesday.

During the shutdown period, work continued on underground access and development, which means the mine should ramp up to full production quickly, Eldorado said.

"We are glad that the situation at White Mountain has been resolved in a technically and environmentally sound manner and we look forward to a full year of production from the mine,” said CEO Paul Wright.

Eldorado has other operations in China, a mine in Turkey, and projects in Greece and Brazil.

It owns 95% of White Mountain, which is expected to produce an average of 65 000 oz/y of gold.

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