By Susan TaylorTORONTO, March 29 (Reuters) - Canada's Eldorado Gold Corpfiled a new technical report for itscontentious Skouries gold mine project in Greece on Thursday,which said it "significantly" reduces the development'senvironmental footprint.The miner, which also filed updated reports for projects inTurkey and Canada, took a tough stand with Greece in November,freezing investment and suspending operations in Skouriesfollowing a years-long permit tussle with the government. The Skouries report updates a 2011 plan with industry-bestpractices for waste water management and tailings, the reportsaid. A change to filtered tailings, for example, will reducethe environmental disturbance from tailings and waste rock, itadded."This compact mine plan utilizes industry best practice tominimize disturbance to the natural environment, includingsurface water and ground water impacts," the report said.It will cost an estimated $689 million to build the mine,which has 3.77 million ounces of gold reserves, 779 millionpounds of copper and a 23-year operation plan.The report projects a 21 percent after-tax internal rate ofreturn and net present value of $925 million.
Greece, which launched arbitration with Eldorado inNovember, has argued that the company violated its contractualobligations by submitting a deficient plan for a metallurgicalplant to process ore.Proceedings are expected to conclude by April 6, Eldoradosaid in a recent filing.Last year, as permitting delays slowed development in thesecond half, Skouries' capital expenditure came in at $73.2million.The project ramp-down is near completion, Eldorado said in afiling. For 2018, it has forecast $20 million in developmentcapital with future care and maintenance costs estimated at $3million to $5 million annually. (Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Richard Chang)
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