Skouries executive: We’re ready for dialogue with any govt elected

Gold processing unit ordered closed by SYRIZA govt hours before it resigned

Hellas Gold CEO Mihalis Theodorakopoulos told a Thessaloniki-area radio station on Wednesday that his company was “ready for dialogue” if the government elected on Sept. 20 wants to renegotiate the gold mining projects at the Skouries site in eastern Halkidiki prefecture.

“The original contract requested nothing; we offered a great deal to the municipality, the local community and the public sector, however, we are open and ready for dialogue,” he said.

According to the mining company executive, environmental impact studies been irrevocably approved by Greece’s highest administrative court.

He made the statements to a radio station affiliated by the state news agency in Thessaloniki.

The gold extraction and processing unit at Skouries was ordered shut by the previous Tsipras government hours before its resignation and call for snap elections. Critics railed against the timing of the ministerial decision, pointing to a bid to appeal to opponents of the mining operation.