Canada's Eldorado Gold has bought the mining rights to recoverable reserves of an estimated 12 million ounces of gold in northern Greece, worth over $14bn even at today's depressed gold prices. Three quarters of this is in the region of Halkidiki, the three-pronged peninsula that is also home to rich forests, white sandy beaches and hotel resorts.
Here local resistance has plagued efforts by Eldorado's predecessor, TVX Gold, which eventually went bankrupt, partly as a result of losses and dashed investor expectations in the region. Eldorado has so far done better. It has won the local municipal council over, successfully applied for environmental permits and so far kept its investment on track.
Eldorado plans to extract and process gold ore three years from now. There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, however. The prospect of turfing out and processing hundreds of millions of tonnes of ore is still a frightening one to many concerned for the environment, and those who disagree with the project have political backers.
The Al Jazeera report is here.
Here local resistance has plagued efforts by Eldorado's predecessor, TVX Gold, which eventually went bankrupt, partly as a result of losses and dashed investor expectations in the region. Eldorado has so far done better. It has won the local municipal council over, successfully applied for environmental permits and so far kept its investment on track.
Eldorado plans to extract and process gold ore three years from now. There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, however. The prospect of turfing out and processing hundreds of millions of tonnes of ore is still a frightening one to many concerned for the environment, and those who disagree with the project have political backers.
The Al Jazeera report is here.
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