Vancouver-based mining company Eldorado Gold has received a strategic investment of C$81.5m ($59.9m) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The company will invest the proceeds from the placement in its Skouries gold-copper project in northern Greece.
This investment will be effected through a private placement, and credited against the company’s 20% equity funding commitment to Skouries.
EBRD will subscribe for 6.2 million of Eldorado Gold’s shares at C$13 apiece.
The company also signed an agreement with BMO Capital Markets and National Bank Financial on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters.
On a bought-deal basis, the underwriters will invest C$135m in Eldorado Gold for 10.4 million of its shares at C$13 per share.
The underwriters have also been given an opportunity to purchase an additional 1.56 million shares, 30 days from the closing of the deal.
If the option is exercised, Eldorado will receive a total of C$155m.
Proceeds from the underwriters’ investment will be used for supporting growth activities across its global portfolio, including those that have not been devised under its five-year plan.
Eldorado Gold president and CEO George Burns said: “We are pleased to be announcing a strategic equity investment from the EBRD and we view its investment as an endorsement of the Skouries project and Eldorado’s commitment to the highest environmental and social standards across our portfolio.
“The EBRD's equity investment, coupled with the Greek lenders in our recently closed project finance facility, provides strategic partners as we advance Skouries towards commercial production.”
Skouries is a high-grade gold-copper-porphyry project located on the Halkidiki Peninsula.
Eldorado plans to use a combination of conventional open mining and underground mining techniques to mine the project.
Once built, the mine will have a total life of 20 years, during which it is expected to yield an average of 140,000oz of gold and 67 million pounds of copper annually.
Last month, the company’s subsidiary Hellas Gold secured €680m to support the project.
