Environment

Eldorado Gold Receives Approval for Use of Dry Stack Tailings at Skouries

Apr 30, 2021 10:00 AM ET

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 30, 2021, /3BL Media/ - Eldorado Gold Corporation (“Eldorado” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that the Greek Ministry of Energy and Environment has approved a modification to the Kassandra Mines Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) to allow for the use of dry stack tailings disposal at the Skouries project. Dry stack technology involves filtering tailings to remove water prior to stacking and compacting the dry material in a designated tailings area.

Using dry stack tailings disposal provides several benefits to the Skouries project:

  • Dry stacked material is denser than conventional slurry tailings and can be stacked and compacted, thus occupying less space and reducing the environmental footprint of the facility by 50%.
  • The high solids content of the dry-stack material, which has a consistency similar to damp sand, significantly improves the tailings facility’s safety and stability, particularly during extreme weather events.
  • Water removed from the tailings will be recycled, reducing the need to extract water from local sources.
  • Allows for continuous reclamation, making final reclamation at the end of mine life faster and easier.

“Receipt of this approval is a major milestone for the Skouries project and the use of dry-stack technology results in a number of safety, environmental and economic benefits,” said George Burns, President and CEO. “Eldorado continues to be an industry leader in dry stack tailings as we have deployed this technology at the majority of our mines. Investment in dry stack at Skouries demonstrates our commitments to using best available environmental technologies at our mines and to ensuring the safety and protection of people and the environment.

“This approval is one of the key items required to restart construction at Skouries. We continue to advance other work on the project, including the completion of a feasibility-level update to the capital cost estimate. Skouries is a world class asset and once in production will add significant value for our investors, local communities and the Greek State.”

About Skouries Project
The Skouries project is one component of the Kassandra Mines, which includes the nearby Olympias mine and the Stratoni/Mavres Petres mine. On February 5, 2021, Eldorado Gold signed an Amended Investment Agreement (the “Agreement”) with the Hellenic Republic to govern the further development, construction and operation of the Kassandra Mines and facilities in northern Greece. The Agreement was approved and ratified by the Greek Parliament on March 17, 2021.

Skouries is a high-grade gold-copper porphyry project that is partially constructed and currently on care and maintenance. Skouries is expected to operate for approximately 23 years based on current reserves, initially as an open pit and underground mine, followed by underground mining only.

A copy of the Skouries Technical report can be found here, or on SEDAR.

To take a virtual tour of the Skouries site, please visit: https://vrify.com/explore/projects/45/sites/3147

About Eldorado Gold
Eldorado is a gold and base metals producer with mining, development and exploration operations in Turkey, Canada, Greece, Romania, and Brazil. The Company has a highly skilled and dedicated workforce, safe and responsible operations, a portfolio of high-quality assets, and long-term partnerships with local communities. Eldorado's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: ELD) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: EGO).

Read the entire release here