Eldorado produces first gold, copper concentrate at Skouries in Greece
TSX- and NYSE-listed Eldorado Gold has produced first copper/gold concentrate from its Skouries project in Greece, marking a transition from construction and commissioning through to commercial production during the fourth quarter.
The company introduced first ore into the crushing circuit in July and has since been commissioning key process plant systems such as flotation and tailings thickening circuits.
The Skouries ore stockpile currently exceeds 4.6-million tonnes, which provides a strong foundation for ramp-up of the plant and for more than seven months' planned processing throughput.
Skouries is planned to produce an average 140 000 oz/y of gold and 67-million pounds a year of copper over its lifetime.
"First concentrate at Skouries represents the culmination of years of development, construction and partnership and marks the beginning of a new chapter for the company. Skouries is not only a transformational asset for Eldorado, but also one of the most significant investments in Greece and one of Europe's largest copper-gold projects.
"Together with McIlvenna Bay in Saskatchewan, Skouries is expected to transform Eldorado into a larger, more diversified precious metals and critical minerals producer with a stronger production base, meaningful copper and silver exposure and enhanced free cashflow generation," says Eldorado CEO George Burns.
