Eldorado Gold Corp T.ELD

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Eldorado Gold Corporation: Financing Update 12/17/02 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Dec 17, 2002 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX) -- NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE US NEWS WIRE SERVICES. Paul N. Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eldorado Gold Corporation (the "Company" or "Eldorado") (TSX: ELD) is pleased to announce that the Company has received a receipt for its short form prospectus relating to the sale of 20,000,000 Units (NR Dec 5, 2002) at a price of CDN$1.60 per Unit (the "Issue Price"), for gross proceeds of CDN$32.0 million, pursuant to an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Yorkton Securities and including Sprott Securities Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., TD Securities Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Research Capital Corporation and Haywood Securities Inc. (the "Underwriters"). Each Unit consists of one Common Share and one-half of one Common Share Purchase Warrant of the Company. Each whole Common Share Purchase Warrant will entitle its holders to acquire one Common Share of Eldorado at a price of CDN$2.00 per Common Share for a period of 12 months following the closing date of the offering, expected to occur on or about December 23, 2002 (the "Closing"). In addition, the Company granted to the Underwriters an option (the "Underwriters' Option"), exercisable up until 24 hours prior to the Closing, to purchase up to an additional 5,000,000 Units at the Issue Price, and an over-allotment option (the "Over-allotment Option"), exercisable up until 24 hours prior to Closing, to acquire up to an additional number of Units equal to 15% of the number of Units sold pursuant to the Offering at the Issue Price, taking into account the exercise of the Underwriters' Option. The Underwriters have given notice to the Company that the Underwriters' Option and the Over-allotment Option will be exercised at Closing, for an additional CDN$14.0 million of gross proceeds to the Company. The total gross proceeds to the Company after the exercise of the Underwriters' Option and Over-allotment Option will be CDN$46.0 million. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to finance the development and construction of the Company's Kisladag gold project in Turkey and for general corporate purposes. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements. This release does not constitute an offer for sale of securities in the United States. Eldorado has superior gold assets in Brazil and Turkey, two countries with enormous geological potential. In Brazil we are focusing on the continuing improvement at the Sao Bento mine which is planned to produce 105,000 ounces at a cash cost of US$185/oz in 2002 and are systematically identifying opportunities to expand our business interests. In Turkey, we continue to expand our asset base, with a resource of approximately 9.4 million ounces in an increasingly attractive jurisdiction. With our international expertise in mining, finance and project development, together with highly skilled and dedicated staff, Eldorado is well positioned to grow in value as we create and pursue new opportunities. ON BEHALF OF ELDORADO GOLD CORPORATION Paul N. Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer Certain of the statements made may contain forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risk, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We do not expect to update forward-looking statements continually as conditions change and you are referred to the full discussion of the Company's business contained in the Company's Prospectus, dated May 10, 2002 and AIF dated May 17, 2002 filed with the securities regulatory authorities. This and other news releases complete with graphic attachments, if any, are available at the Company's website (www.eldoradogold.com) or may be acquired by fax or mail upon request. Eldorado Gold Corporation Nancy E. Woo Investor Relations Contact [phone] or Toll Free: 1-888-ELD-8166 [phone] (FAX) Email: [e-mail] Website: www.eldoradogold.com NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CCNMatthews The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the form or content of this release. Copyright (C) 2002, Canadian Corporate News. All rights reserved.