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NEWS: 1,500 march in Athens against Canadian gold mine

Xinhua reports, “Greek citizens took to the streets of Athens on Tuesday to protest against a gold mining investment in northern Greece. Nearly 1,500 demonstrators marched to the parliament, shouting slogans against the project run by Canadian company Eldorado Gold, claiming that it will damage the local environment. ‘No to gold destruction,’ read banners waved by protesters on Syntagma square.”

PressTV adds, “‘We want the land, the water and the trees, not a golden tomb’, chanted thousands of Greeks, marching in support of the local community in the Skouries region of Chalkidiki, in northern Greece. The environmental impact of gold mining in the 317 thousand sq. km region is severe, say the protesters. There is almost a gram of gold in every ton of soil in the area. Hundreds of thousands of tons of earth will have to be dug out, cutting through a protected natural forest, then chemically processed using arsenic, cadmium and other toxic chemicals.”

That article says, “We spoke to activist and mathematics professor Antonis Vardoulakis, from the Aristotelian University in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, only 100 km from the region in question. Ninety-five percent of the gold mine in Skouries belongs to Canadian multinational company Eldorado Gold and five percent to Hellas Gold, a private company owned by Fotis and George Bobolas, Greece’s construction tycoons and media moguls. Astoundingly, the Greek State owns zero percent royalties in the gold mines in Skouries and another three regional gold and silver mines. Furthermore, in 2011, the Greek government was the intermediary for the transfer of ownership between the current and former owner companies, for a mere 11 million euros.”

Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold is developing the Skouries and Olympias mines (in Halkidiki in Central Macedonia, about 70 kilometres south of Thessaloniki) and the Perama Hill project (in Eastern Macedonia in the Thrace region, which is to the east of Thessaloniki).

For more, please read:
AUDIO: Greek mine opponent interviewed on As It Happens
UPDATE: CETA investor-state provision could be invoked if Greek gold mine cancelled
NEWS: 15,000 march on Canadian consulate in Greece in opposition to gold mines