Eldorado Gold
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eldorado Gold Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates
gold mines Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more complex ...
in
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. Since its merger with
European Goldfields European Goldfields Ltd. was an EU-focused, Whitehorse based Canadian precious metals company engaged in gold, silver and copper exploration Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectati ...
in 2011 the company has been pursuing the development of the
Skouries mine The Skouries mine is a high-grade gold-copper porphyry deposit located in the Chalkidiki peninsula in northern Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peni ...
, Olympias mine and Stratoni mine in Greece. The company previously developed and operated gold mines in China, Brazil and Mexico. Headquartered in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
and listed on the
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
s, Eldorado Gold has developed and operated assets from several merged companies HRC Developments Corporation, Afcan Mining Corporation, Sino Gold Mining, Brazauro Resources, Integra Gold, as well as European Goldfields.


Corporate history

The Eldorado Corporation was incorporated in
Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...
on April 2, 1992, by several entrepreneurs who worked together at Bema Gold. The group had agreed to a contract that would give them a 70% interest in the Mexican La Colorada mining project if they were able to bring the mine into commercial production. In early 1994, La Colorada became Eldorado's first productive mine and by the end of the year they had purchased its remaining interest. Meanwhile, they also fulfilled a similar contract, conducting development-related work in exchange for ownership interest, in the La Trinidad project, also in Mexico. While the mine began production in 1996, and Eldorado gained 100% ownership in 1997, it was shut down and then sold off in 1998 as the
price of gold A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation expected, required, or given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, especially when the product is a service rather than a phy ...
collapsed; La Colorada was sold in 2000 for the same reason. In April 1996, after fending off a
hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (law), company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast t ...
bid by Glamis Gold the previous year, the company was renamed to Eldorado Gold Corporation and had its domicile moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. That year, they acquired the Brazilian São Bento, as well as exploration properties in Brazil and Turkey, from Gencor in exchange for a 43% stake in the company. Gencor made a similar deal with
Vancouver Stock Exchange The Vancouver Stock Exchange (VSE) was a stock exchange based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was incorporated 1906. On November 29, 1999, the VSE was merged into the Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX). History It was incorporated 1906 and was ...
-listed HRC Developments Corporation, 43% of the company for several exploration properties, and then Eldorado and HRC merged to form one company. São Bento would be the company's sole operating mine from 2000 to 2006 as it focused on developing the Kişladağ project in Turkey. Eldorado Gold increased the gold production from 64,298 ounces in 2005 to 632,539 ounces in 2010, despite the closure of the São Bento in 2007, by bringing Kişladağ into production in 2006, acquiring the
Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the List of stock exchanges, 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in th ...
-listed Afcan Mining Corporation for its Tanjianshan Mine which it had acquired two years previous from Sino Gold Mining, and then acquiring
Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...
-listed Sino Gold Mining, in a 2009 $1.6 billion all-stock deal, for their new Jinfeg and White Mountain mines. During this period of growth, Eldorado and
Centerra Gold Centerra Gold Inc. is a Canadian mining company that owns and operates the Mount Milligan copper-gold mine in British Columbia, Canada, and the Öksüt gold mine in Turkey. Through its Thompson Creek Metals subsidiary company, it also owns the En ...
considered merging their operations but were unable to find sufficient advantages. Eldorado went on to be added to the
S&P/TSX 60 The S&P/TSX 60 Index is a stock market index of 60 large companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Launched on December 30, 1998 by the Canadian S&P Index Committee, a unit of S&P Dow Jones Indices, the index has components across nine secto ...
in 2009 as one of the largest companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In 2010 Eldorado acquired, in an all-stock deal worth $122 million,
TSX Venture Exchange The TSX Venture Exchange is a stock exchange in Canada. It is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia, with offices in Toronto and Montreal. All trading through the Exchange is done electronically, so the Exchange does n ...
-listed Brazauro Resources for their share of the Brazilian Tocantinzinho exploration project. Later that year, Eldorado offered a $3.4-billion all-stock deal to acquire ASX-listed Andean Resources for their Cerro Negro project but were out-bid by
Goldcorp Goldcorp Inc. was a gold production company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company stood among the largest gold producers in the world, employed about 15,800 people worldwide, engaged in gold mining and related activit ...
who offered $3.6-billion in cash and stocks. Instead, Eldorado went on to acquire TSX-listed
European Goldfields European Goldfields Ltd. was an EU-focused, Whitehorse based Canadian precious metals company engaged in gold, silver and copper exploration Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectati ...
for $2.5-billion in stocks for its projects in Greece, as well as exploration properties in Romania, such as Certej mine. Eldorado's gold production peaked at 789,224 ounces in 2014 from its three mines in China, the Kişladağ mine in Turkey, supplemented by its second Turkish mine (Efemcukuru) which came online in 2012 and the old Olympias mine in Greece which the company was able to begin retreatment of leftover tailings. Eldorado Gold began a years long decline as it committed to selling its mines in China in favour of developing its properties in Greece. At the time, during its
economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...
, Greece was actively seeking foreign investment and its Skouries project had the potential to be a high producing, long-lived (over 20 years) gold and copper mine. Other companies had previously attempted to develop the Skouries mine but
the government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
had deemed it as not being in the national interest but the need for foreign investment reversed that decision. However, Eldorado's projects in the
Chalkidiki Chalkidiki (; , alternatively Halkidiki), also known as Chalcidice, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos reg ...
region had long been controversial as other mining projects left locals with little confidence in the government's ability to effectively regulate mining and manage economic development. The company spent US$1 billion by 2017, mostly on the Skouries project, without completing a mine and experiencing protests against the project, due to land clearing in a popular forest and anticipated impacts to environmental values, tourism and agriculture, as well as protests in favour citing the number of jobs the mining project represented. Eldorado Gold's assets in China were sold to
China National Gold Group Corporation China National Gold Group Corporation (CNGC, ), also known as China Gold, is a centrally-administered state-owned enterprise primarily involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and refining of gold, copper, silver, and molybdenum. It was e ...
and the
Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...
-listed Yintai Resources Company for a cumulative US$900-million in 2016 resulting in its gold production falling to 292,971 ounces in 2017. Despite having gained the Lamaque mine in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
with the company's $590 million cash and stock acquisition of TSX Venture-listed Integra Gold, the company suspended dividend payments in 2018 and their stock briefly fell under CDA$1, all while company was accused of using Dutch subsidiaries for tax avoidance purposes and excessively compensating executive management for poor performance.


Operations

As of 2020, Eldorado Gold operates 5 mines: * Kişladağ gold mine, located in
Uşak Uşak () is a city in the interior part of the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Uşak Province and Uşak District.heap leaching Heap leaching is an industrial mining process used to extract precious metals, copper, uranium, and other compounds from ore using a series of chemical reactions that absorb specific minerals and re-separate them after their division from other e ...
to produce gold dore. *Efemçukuru mine, located in
İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
, Turkey, near the village of Efemçukuru, reached commercial production in 2012. It is an underground mine targeting a high-grade deposit whose ore is sold to third parties for processing elsewhere. *Lamaque mine, located in
Val-d’Or Val-d'Or ( , , ; meaning "Golden Valley" or "Valley of Gold") is a city in Quebec, Canada with a population of 32,752 inhabitants according to the 2021 Canadian census. The city is located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region near La Vérendrye ...
, Quebec, Canada, is an underground gold mine that reached commercial production on March 31, 2019. * Olympias mine, located in the
Chalkidiki Chalkidiki (; , alternatively Halkidiki), also known as Chalcidice, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos reg ...
region of Greece, is an underground gold-silver-lead-zinc mine that ships ore concentrates from port facilities in
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
and
Stratoni Stratoni () is a community of 992 inhabitants (2021 census), situated on the north-eastern coast of the Chalkidiki peninsula, in Northern Greece. It is part of Aristotelis municipality and the municipal unit Stagira-Akanthos. History The main fea ...
for processing elsewhere. It was acquired in Eldorado's business combination with European Goldfields in 2012 and reached commercial production in 2017. * Stratoni mine, located in the
Chalkidiki Chalkidiki (; , alternatively Halkidiki), also known as Chalcidice, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos reg ...
region of Greece, near
Stratoni Stratoni () is a community of 992 inhabitants (2021 census), situated on the north-eastern coast of the Chalkidiki peninsula, in Northern Greece. It is part of Aristotelis municipality and the municipal unit Stagira-Akanthos. History The main fea ...
, is an underground silver-lead-zinc mine that ships ore concentrates from port facilities in
Stratoni Stratoni () is a community of 992 inhabitants (2021 census), situated on the north-eastern coast of the Chalkidiki peninsula, in Northern Greece. It is part of Aristotelis municipality and the municipal unit Stagira-Akanthos. History The main fea ...
for processing elsewhere.


Past operations

*La Colorada, located in
Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...
, Mexico, was Eldorado Gold's original mine. It began production in 1994 but was sold in 2000 to a private Mexican company. *La Trinidad, located in
Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...
, Mexico, was brought into production by Eldorado in 1996 but was sold in 1998. *São Bento, located in
Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
, Brazil, was purchased from Gencor in 1996 and operated through to 2006. *Tanjianshan, located in a mountainous desert in
Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...
, China, the open gold pit mine was brought into production in 2007, following Eldorado's acquisition of the Afcan Mining Corporation. The high-altitude mine produced approximately 110,000 ounces annually of gold dore until 2016 when it was sold. *Jinfeg, located in
Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...
, China, the mine was a combined open pit and underground operation targeting a deep deposit. It was acquired by Eldorado with its 2009 acquisition of Sino Gold. The mine produced between 110,000 and 180,000 ounces of gold dore each year until 2016 when it was sold. *White Mountain, located in
Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...
, China, near the city of
Baishan Baishan ( zh, s=白山 , p=Báishān), is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jilin province, in the Northeast China, Dongbei (northeastern) part of China. "" literally means "White Mountain", and is named after Changbai Mountain ( zh, s=长 ...
. The underground mine was acquired by Eldorado in 2009 shortly after its opening. The mine produced between 60,000 and 85,000 ounces of gold dore each year until 2016 when it was sold. *Vila Nova iron ore mine, located in
Amapá Amapá (; ) is one of the 26 federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil. It is in the North Region, Brazil, North Region of Brazil. It is Federative units of Brazil#List, the second-least populous state and the eighteenth-largest state by area ...
, Brazil, operated from 2011 to 2014 and has since been on
care and maintenance Care and maintenance is a term used in the mining industry to describe processes and conditions on a closed mine site at which there is the potential to recommence operations at a later date. During the care and maintenance phase, production is st ...
.


Environmental Impact


Greece

The mining operation at Olympiada has been found to be in violation of Greek environmental protection laws by an inspection committee of the Greek Ministry of the Environment and Energy. The inspectors discovered, among other violations, concentrations over the allowed limits of
cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...
,
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
and
arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
in a water stream used by the mining operation.


Documentaries


ELDORADO - The Struggle for Skouries


References


External links

* https://s2.q4cdn.com/536453762/files/doc_financials/2016/annual/0166_Year-in-review_WEB-(Small).pdf * https://s2.q4cdn.com/536453762/files/doc_downloads/Shareholder_Materials/2017/2016-Audited-Financial-Statements-MD-A.pdf
Year in Review Report 2015
*
SEDAR Profile

Reuters Profile
{{Authority control Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Gold mining companies of Canada