Legal grist for the millDoing a bit of research...thought I would pass it on. This editorial is from Mineweb Mar 8, 2008
Key issue: lawsuit has attacked the 2003 Kisladag EIA and Turkey's Environmental Ministry, which approved the document.
This court case has been going on for 3 years.
Apparently, the locals are in favour of the operations 275 employees, 300+ contract employees
"Unidentified" environmental group heading the action
Same group has taken steps against INMET
Since this action has been going on for 3 years, is it not baked into the stock?
Take out is unlikely until legal issues settled.
Turkey underwent elections in July 2007, so political stability, or status quo.
Turkey wants into the EU, so why would they hinder legally issued permits to foreign companies providing capital, technology, and employment.
If Eldorado's EIA was really suspect, the operation would not have been allowed to restart.
Seems like Eldorado is a good corporate citizen, and is pro-actrive within their operational communities.
So, more upside, providing gold continues to rise.
"The high court ruled that existing expert reports prepared for the Lower Administrative Court concerning the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) for the Kisladag gold mine were insufficient to enable the court to make a positive or negative decision on the merits of the case. Kisladag has been the focus of a three-year legal battle between environmental attorneys--representing an unidentified environmental organization aimed at stopping the spread of gold mining in Turkey-and Turkey's Environmental Ministry, which approved the Kisladag EIS in 2003.
The open-pit, heap leach gold mine is planned to produce 240,000 ounces annually over a 14-year mine life. It had been operating 15 months before the temporary injunction was issued by the lower court.
"The company is pleased that having preserved its staff levels during the period of the temporary shutdown we are now in a position to quickly resume full production," Wright said.
However, the Ministry of the Environment still has the right to appeal the High Court's decision to send the case back to a lower court. In an analysis published Thursday, Kerry Smith of Haywood Securities said, "If this appeal is granted, the case will remain at the High Court level until a ruling on the appeal is made, which could take a considerable length of time. If an appeal is successful, it also removes any risk of another appeal by the defendant."
"Every day of operation demonstrates environmental compliance, reducing the urgency of any High Court decision," Smith claimed. "The mine has operated in full compliance since Day 1, and as time goes by, we expect the mine will continue to meet all environmental standards, fully supporting a decision by the courts to drop all appeals or litigation."
Smith noted that the company's previous production guidance for Kisladag for 190,000 ounces of gold this year remains intact until the company releases its year-end results on March 27th.
"Until that time, we continue to forecast production at Kisladag in 2008 slightly below guidance at 185,000 ounces. Eldorado was allowed to circulate solutions during the shutdown and has about 35,000 ounces loaded on carbon already," he explained. "With this head start, the ability to leach fresh ore on the side slopes and with fresh ore being loaded on the pads, we think the mine should produce at the 20,000 ounce-per-month rate almost immediately (in Q2/07 the mine produced 68,095 ounces at US$190 per ounce). This production rate may drop off slightly after this initial easily recovered gold is produced, but we expect Eldorado will work hard to maximize ore tonnage to the pad and also ore under leach."
Do your own DD!