Eldorado Gold

Last updated
Eldorado Gold Corporation
TypePublic
TSX:  ELD
NYSE:  EGO
Industry Mining
FoundedApril 2, 1992
Headquarters
Vancouver, British Columbia
,
Canada
Key people
Richard Barclay (CEO, 1992-8)
Hugh Morris (CEO, 1998-9)
Paul Wright (CEO, 1999-2017)
George Burns (CEO, 2017-current)
ProductsGold, Silver, Lead, Zinc
RevenueUS$617.8 million (2019) [1]
US$80.6 million (2019) [1]
Total assets US$4.648 billion (2019) [1]
Total equity US$4.648 billion (2019) [1]
Number of employees
4,300 (end 2018) [2]
Subsidiaries Hellas Gold SA (Greece), Tüprag Metal Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS (Turkey), Integra Gold Corp, Eldorado Gold Cooperatief U.A. (Netherlands)
Website eldoradogold.com

Eldorado Gold Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates gold mines in Turkey, Greece and Canada. Since its merger with European Goldfields in 2011 the company has been pursuing the development of the Skouries mine, Olympias mine and Stratoni mine in Greece. The company previously developed and operated gold mines in China, Brazil and Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver and listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges, 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.

Contents

Corporate history

The Eldorado Corporation was incorporated in Bermuda 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 collapsed; La Colorada was sold in 2000 for the same reason.

In April 1996, after fending off a hostile takeover 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-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, [3] by bringing Kişladağ into production in 2006, acquiring the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Afcan Mining Corporation for its Tanjianshan Mine which it had acquired two years previous from Sino Gold Mining, [4] and then acquiring Australian Securities Exchange-listed Sino Gold Mining, in a 2009 $1.6 billion all-stock deal, for their new Jinfeg and White Mountain mines. [5] During this period of growth, Eldorado and Centerra Gold considered merging their operations but were unable to find sufficient advantages. [6] Eldorado went on to be added to the S&P/TSX 60 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-listed Brazauro Resources for their share of the Brazilian Tocantinzinho exploration project. [7] 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 who offered $3.6-billion in cash and stocks. [8] Instead, Eldorado went on to acquire TSX-listed European Goldfields for $2.5-billion in stocks for its projects in Greece, as well as exploration properties in Romania. [9] [10] [11] 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, 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 had deemed it as not being in the national interest but the need for foreign investment reversed that decision. [12] [13] However, Eldorado's projects in the Chalkidiki 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, [14] 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, [15] as well as protests in favour citing the number of jobs the mining project represented. [16] Eldorado Gold's assets in China were sold to China National Gold Group Corporation and the Shenzhen-listed Yintai Resources Company for a cumulative US$900-million [17] in 2016 resulting in its gold production falling to 292,971 ounces in 2017. Despite having gained the Lamaque mine in Quebec with the company's $590 million cash and stock acquisition of TSX Venture-listed Integra Gold, [18] 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 [19] and excessively compensating executive management for poor performance. [20] [21]

Operations

As of 2020, Eldorado Gold operates 5 mines:

Past operations

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, lead and arsenic in a water stream used by the mining operation. [24]

Documentaries

Related Research Articles

Yamana Gold Inc. is a Canadian company that owns and operates gold, silver and copper mines in Canada, Chile, Brazil and Argentina. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded in 1994 and became listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1995, the New York Stock Exchange in 2007, and the London Stock Exchange in 2020. The company became a gold producer after its 2003 re-restructuring in which Peter Marrone took over as chief executive officer and it merged with Brazilian company Santa Elina Mines Corporation. The combined company was able to use Yamana's access to capital with Santa Elina development properties to bring the Chapada mine into production. From there the company combined with other TSX-listed companies RNC Gold, Desert Sun Mining, Viceroy Exploration, Northern Orion Resources, Meridian Gold, Osisko Mining and Extorre Gold Mines which each contributed either a producing mine or a development project that was able to come into commercial production. The company was acquired by Pan American Silver in March 2023.

NOVAGOLD is a Canadian company that is pursuing the development of the Donlin Gold mine in Alaska. Headquartered in Vancouver, the company is listed on the NYSE American and the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company was founded in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in 1984, to pursue exploration and development of mining properties. While the company bought and sold numerous exploration rights across North America, they have principally focused on four properties. They developed and operated the Murray Brook Mine in Nova Scotia from 1989 to 1992 and developed the Rock Creek Mine in Alaska but defaulted on financial obligations forcing it to close shortly after opening in 2008. They conducted exploration and development work on the Galore Creek mine in British Columbia between 2003 and 2018 but sold its interests. The development of the Donlin Gold mine has been pursued since the formation of a joint venture with Barrick Gold in 2012.

Kinross Gold Corporation is a Canadian-based gold and silver mining company founded in 1993 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Kinross currently operates six active gold mines, and was ranked fifth of the "10 Top Gold-mining Companies" of 2019 by InvestingNews. The company's mines are located in Brazil, Mauritania, and the United States. It trades under the KGC ticker in the New York Stock Exchange, and under K in the Toronto Stock Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OceanaGold</span> Gold mining company

OceanaGold Corporation (OceanaGold) is a multinational, mid-tier gold mining company with significant global operating, development and exploration experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centerra Gold</span> Canadian mining company

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 Endako and Thompson Creek molybdenum mines in British Columbia and Idaho, respectively, though they have been inactive since Centerra's acquisition. The company formerly owned and operated the Kumtor Gold Mine in the Kyrgyz Republic and the Boroo Gold Mine in Mongolia. Headquartered in Toronto, Centerra Gold is a public company with shares traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.

Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf Lundin and operated by Lukas Lundin. While it was incorporated to pursue an interest in a diamond mine in Brazil, the company re-structured and raised funds to develop the Storliden mine in Sweden. It purchased the Swedish Zinkgruvan Mine from Rio Tinto and then merged with Arcon International Resources for its Galmoy Mine in Ireland and Eurozinc for its Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal. The company subsequently purchased and operated the Eagle mine, Candelaria mine, and Chapada mine.

Iamgold Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates gold mines in Burkina Faso, Suriname and Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was incorporated in 1990, and went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1996, with additional shares being listed on the New York Stock Exchange beginning in 2005. The company formerly owned or had stakes in the Sadiola and Yatela gold mines in Mali, the Mupane gold mine in Botswana, the Niobec niobium mine in Quebec, as well as a royalty in the Diavik Diamond Mine.

Golden Star Resources Ltd was a Canadian company that owned and operated the Wassa gold mine in Ghana. The company formerly owned and operated the Bogoso-Prestea gold mine, also in Ghana, from 1999 to 2020. Headquartered in London, but with a registered office in Toronto, it was a public company with shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and cross-listed on the NYSE American and Ghana Stock Exchange. In 2022 the company was acquired by Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining. Golden Star Resources was founded in 1984 by geologist Roger Morton and former football player Dave Fennell to pursue mineral interest in Guyana and formed a joint venture with Cambior to develop the Omai Mine. They changed their focus in 1999 to pursue owning and operating its own gold mines in Ghana.

There are different methods by which gold mining companies are ranked. One is by their annual production. Another is by their cash cost per ounce, that is, how much money it costs them to mine the gold. Since gold prices are the same everywhere, companies with lower costs per ounce make more profit. The most common method lists by market capitalization which considers the total value of capital holdings by that company. Also considered when comparing companies is their market capitalization per ounce of gold equivalent which takes the market value and total reserves and resources for each company as well as the price of gold into consideration. The figures for each company can be used to determine the value the stock market gives to each company's reserves on an ounce to ounce basis.

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. is a Canadian company that provides funding to mining companies in exchange for royalties, principally in the form of net smelter returns and streams. The company focuses on precious metals but did spin off Sandstorm Metals & Energy Ltd. in 2010 as a separate TSX Venture Exchange-listed company to make volumetric production payment transactions in the base metal and fossil fuel sectors, then bought it back in 2014. Sandstorm Gold graduated from the TSX Venture Exchange to the Toronto Stock Exchange and began listing shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012.

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. is a Canadian multinational precious metals streaming company. It produces over 26 million ounces and sells over 29 million ounces of silver mined by other companies as a by-product of their main operations.

New Gold Inc. is a Canadian mining company that owns and operates the New Afton gold-silver-copper mine in British Columbia and the Rainy River gold-silver mine in Ontario, Canada. Through a Mexican subsidiary company, they also own the Cerro San Pedro gold-silver mine in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, which ceased operation in 2017. While New Gold was founded in 1980 for the purposes of mineral exploration, the company became a mine operator with its merger of Peak Gold and Metallica Resources in 2008. A fourth company, Western Goldfields, joined in 2009. Together they operated the Peak mine in Australia and Mesquite Mine in California but sold both in 2018. Headquartered in Toronto, shares of the company are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE American.

Detour Gold Corporation is a former Canadian gold mining company, between 2006 and 2020, that owned and operated the Detour Lake Mine in the Abitibi gold belt of northeastern Ontario. Located northeast of Timmins and Cochrane, Ontario, near the Quebec border, the mine was operated by Placer Dome between 1983 and 1999, recovering 1.8 million ounces of gold in that time, and maintained as an exploration property by Pelangio Mines Inc. until 2006 when a group of investors formed the Detour Gold Corporation to develop a new mine. An initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange on January 31, 2007, as well as several subsequent offerings, raised sufficient funds to develop the mine, so that it began production in 2013. Its low grade concentrations necessitated an open pit mine with cyanidation and carbon in pulp processing. Between 2014 and 2019 the mine produced between 500,000 and 600,000 ounces of gold each year. In 2020, following a proxy fight with activist shareholder Paulson & Co., the mine and the company were acquired by Kirkland Lake Gold in an all-stock purchase totaling $4.9 billion.

European Goldfields Ltd. was an EU-focused, Whitehorse based Canadian precious metals company engaged in gold, silver and copper exploration, development and production. The mining rights it owned to land in Greece, Romania and Turkey gave it access to over 10 million ounces of 2P gold reserves in addition to over 80 million ounces of silver.

Seabridge Gold is a Canadian company that is pursuing the development of the Kerr Sulphurets Mitchell ("KSM") gold-silver-molybdenum-copper mine in northwest British Columbia. Headquartered in Toronto, the company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. The company was founded in 1979 as a mining company but, in 1999, re-organized to pursue exploration and development of gold deposits with a new board of directors and new management team. Of the mineral properties acquired between 2000 and 2002, the KSM project emerged as its core asset. The project advanced through its preliminary feasibility study and received its environmental assessment approval in 2014. The Company has completed new development plans and is actively looking for a partner to co-develop the project. KSM is one of the world’s largest gold/copper projects as measured by mineral reserves and resources. Seabridge also owns several other mineral properties, including the Courageous Lake project in Northwest Territories, the Iskut project in northwest BC, the Snowstorm project in Nevada and the 3 Aces project in Canada’s Yukon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle North Gold</span> Canadian gold-mining company (1996–2021)

Battle North Gold was a Canadian company that was pursuing the development of the Bateman gold project near Red Lake, Ontario. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and the New York Stock Exchange and then the OTCQX market exchange in the US. The company's board of directors had approved the construction of the mine in 2014 and raised $700 million but little gold was recovered. Consequently, the company sought creditor protection and re-structured. By 2018 the company had a market capitalization of $80 million as it pursued new resource estimates. The company was acquired by Australian Securities Exchange-listed company Evolution Mining in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B2Gold</span>

B2Gold Corporation is a Canadian mining company that owns and operates gold mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, and was founded in 2007, and was then listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, then later listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Namibian Stock Exchange. The company was formed by several executives from Bema Gold following its acquisition by Kinross Gold. The company built itself up through mergers with several other mining companies, including Central Sun Mining, CGA Mining, Auryx Gold and Papillon Resources to give it five operating mines, two of which have been divested, and several exploration properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guyana Goldfields</span> Canadian mining company

Guyana Goldfields was a Canadian company that owned and operated the Aurora gold mine in Guyana. Before being acquired by Zijin Mining in 2020, Guyana Goldfields was a publicly traded company with shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and previously TSX Venture Exchange. Beginning in 1996 the company acquired exploration rights to the former Peters and Aurora mines with the objective of utilizing modern exploration technology to re-evaluate the potential gold reserves. Following positive exploratory results, the company received financing from the International Finance Corporation and other investors and conducted economic and technical feasibility studies. The Aurora gold mine began commercial production in 2015 and has produced approximately 125,000 to 160,000 ounces of gold per year from the mine since then. These lower than expected results and a revised technical study that significantly lowered the recoverable reserves estimates, led to the removal of the CEO and directors involved in making the investment decision and a class action lawsuit alleging misrepresentations in public disclosures.

Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. was a Canadian gold mining company, based in Toronto, that owned and operated several gold mines in Canada and Australia. It was founded in 1988 as Goldpac Investments, and then operated as Brimstone Gold Corp. between 1994 and 1999, as a consulting and investment company in the gold mining industry. The company was renamed Foxpoint Resources Ltd. as it sought to acquire and develop its own gold mining property. In 2001, the Vancouver-based Foxpoint Resources purchased several mining properties from the Kinross Gold around Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The $5 million purchase included several former mines: Macassa Mine, Lakeshore Mine, Wright Hargreaves and Teck Hughes. The company renamed itself again as Kirkland Lake Gold and re-commissioned the underground Macassa Mine. As it continued new exploration, it was able to begin extracting gold from the mine in 2003. Kirkland Lake Gold focused on developing its Macassa mine until 2015 when it acquired St. Andrew Goldfields with its three mines about 100 km from Kirkland Lake, in an all-stock deal worth $178 million. Pressure from activist shareholders seeking more aggressive expansion led to changes in management to expand the company's holdings. Later that year, the company acquired Vancouver-based Newmarket Gold Inc., which owned the Cosmo mine in the Northern Territory and the Fosterville and Stawell Gold Mines in Victoria, Australia, for $1.01-billion in stock. Kirkland Lake Gold listed stocks on the Australian Securities Exchange effective November 30, 2017. On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Kirkland Lake Gold was promoted to the S&P/TSX 60 index effective September 23, 2019. Within a few months, the company acquired Detour Gold in a $4.9-billion purchase.

The Osisko Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that conducts mineral exploration work with a focus on seeking to develop a gold mine in Ontario or Quebec. The company adopted its name following the 2015 merger of five companies that resulted in the re-uniting of the executive management team of the original Osisko Mining Corporation.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Eldorado Gold Financials 2019" (PDF). Eldorado Gold. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Opportunity" (PDF). Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  3. ↑ "Gold miner posts loss because of writedown". Toronto Star. March 24, 2006. p. F04.
  4. ↑ Choy, Leng Yeong (June 1, 2005). "Eldorado buys firm to expand in China". National Post. p. FP4.
  5. ↑ Blackwell, Richard (August 27, 2009). "Eldorado goes for gold in China". The Globe and Mail. p. B2.
  6. ↑ "Eldorado, Centerra call off possible combination". The Globe and Mail. February 17, 2007. p. B7.
  7. ↑ Quinn, Greg (May 13, 2010). "Eldorado Gold to buy Brazauro". National Post. p. FP6.
  8. ↑ Bouw, Brenda (September 8, 2010). "Australian takeover too rich for Eldorado Gold". The Globe and Mail. p. B3.
  9. ↑ Bouw, Brenda (December 19, 2011). "Eldorado snags European gold deal". The Globe and Mail. p. B1.
  10. ↑ Eldorado Gold Corp. makes $2.5B all-stock bid for European Goldfields Ltd. Archived 2019-05-04 at the Wayback Machine , huffingtonpost.ca 2011/12/18.
  11. ↑ Greece to rule on European Goldfields by February, Reuters 2010/10/21.
  12. ↑ "Eldorado gets OK for Greek mine". National Post. July 25, 2012. p. FP9.
  13. ↑ Daley, Suzanne (January 15, 2013). "Gold boom hits Greece; Country divided by need for work versus environmental concerns". Montreal Gazette . p. A13.
  14. ↑ Nikas, Sotiris; Tugwell, Paul (September 12, 2017). "Eldorado strikes 'major blow' to Greek recovery; Canadian Gold Miner Suspends Operations Over Permit Delays". National Post. p. FP1.
  15. ↑ Reguly, Eric (April 27, 2013). "The feud over Eldorado's growing Greek gold mine". The Globe and Mail. p. B6.
  16. ↑ "Eldorado Gold staff protest feared job cuts". The Globe and Mail. April 17, 2015. p. B10.
  17. ↑ Koven, Peter (May 17, 2016). "Eldorado to exit China in $600M deal". National Post. p. FP3.
  18. ↑ Freeman, Sunny (July 6, 2017). "Major miners see gold in juniors". National Post. p. FP1.
  19. ↑ Reguly, Eric (March 31, 2015). "Eldorado Gold accused of tax avoidance". The Globe and Mail. p. B10.
  20. ↑ McFarland, Janet (June 12, 2017). "CEO share grants raise investors' ire". The Globe and Mail. p. B6.
  21. ↑ McGee, Niall (May 23, 2018). "Eldorado Gold CEO's $7.3-million pay package in spotlight". The Globe and Mail. p. B1.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Annual Information form for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019" (Press release). Eldorado Gold. SEDAR. March 30, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Annual Information form for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2016" (Press release). Eldorado Gold. SEDAR. March 30, 2017.
  24. ↑ Special Secretariat for the Environment and Energy Inspectorate. "Act of Confirmation of Infringement" (PDF). antigoldgr.org. Retrieved 2019-12-10.{{cite web}}: External link in |author= (help)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.