Canada presses Greece on ‘troublesome’ Eldorado Gold delays

Canada’s Trade Minister flagged “troublesome” permit delays for Eldorado Gold Corp in a letter to the Greek Minister of Mines and Energy earlier this year, Francois-Philippe Champagne told Reuters on Wednesday.

After meeting with the company at the Toronto mining conference in March, Champagne wrote to say that Canadian companies expect to be treated fairly and Eldorado has done “everything it can in order to comply with local laws and regulations.”

Vancouver-based Eldorado threatened on Monday to suspend investment at three Greek projects, demanding permits and clarifications on an upcoming arbitration process.

“We do that all the time when we see that Canadian companies operating abroad are not treated fairly in light of the rights and the regulations in that country and I will remake that case to my counterpart over the phone,” Champagne said.

“We want to ensure a good trading relationship. Canada is a G7 country and when Canada speaks people listen.” [Reuters]