Eldorado’s Skouries mine wins EU strategic status

AI desk brief

The European Commission granted strategic status to Eldorado Gold’s Skouries copper-gold project in Greece, a move that should speed permitting and improve its access to public and private financing as the mine ramps toward production. Skouries is one of 46 projects selected under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act and is expected to start commercial production by end-2026, with first concentrate already produced and ore stockpiles above 4.6 million tonnes.

The project carries more than $2 billion of investment and is designed for a 20-year life, with planned output of about 140,000 oz of gold and 67 million lb of copper per year. The EU designation underscores Europe’s push to secure domestic critical-mineral supply chains, but it does not itself deliver funding.