Gold and base metals producer Eldorado Gold’s Greek subsidiary Hellas Gold has filed an application for payment with the Hellenic Republic, requesting about €750-million for damages suffered by the company, arising from delays in the issuance of permits for the Skouries project, in northern Greece.
The damages include out-of-pocket costs and loss of profits incurred. The application is a non-judicial request for payment and does not initiate legal proceedings.
Eldorado president and CEO George Burns stated on Tuesday that the application represented a good-faith attempt to resolve the matter with the Greek State. “We hope that this matter can be resolved in an amicable manner without needing to go down the route of arbitration.”
Eldorado had to move its high-grade gold/copper porphyry deposit Skouries project into care and maintenance on November 9, 2017, as a result of ongoing permitting delays.
The main differences between the parties centre around the projects’ environmental impacts in the forested area and the company’s alleged breached of its contractual obligations.
In March, Eldorado filed a new technical report for the project, which reduces the development’s environmental footprint through, for example, a change to filtered tailings, which will reduce the environmental disturbance from tailings and waste rock.
Mining Weekly Online previously reported that it will cost an estimated $689-million to build the mine, which has 3.77-million ounces of gold reserves, 779-million pounds of copper and a 23-year operation plan.
The project has a projected after-tax internal rate of return of 21% and net present value of $925-million.