Signi Schneider
Vice-President
Corporate Social Responsibility
Yolanda Banks
Senior Corporate Social Responsibility Advisor
Chris Pullen
Senior Environmental Advisor
Lissa Bjerkelund
Senior Chief Representative
International Business Development
Export Development Canada
150 Slater St.
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
June 26, 2013
Dear Ms Schneider, Ms Banks, Mr. Pullen and Ms Bjerkelund:
Thank you for meeting with us at your offices on May 29. In that meeting, we provided you with information about Eldorado Gold’s operations in Halkidiki, Greece. We discussed a number of concerns regarding the company’s operations, including: serious inaccuracies in Eldorado’s environmental impact assessment; the anticipated negative impact of the project on extremely scarce local water resources; outstanding questions regarding the feasibility of the ore processing technology proposed by the company; and violent state oppression in the face of widespread resistance to the project.
On November 23, 2012, EDC provided Eldorado Gold with between $25 and $50 million in financing. The issues that we discussed on May 29 were raised by local residents and civil society organizations long before EDC approved financing for the company. Was EDC aware of the serious social and environmental issues associated with the project when it decided to provide the company with financing?
What specific steps will EDC take to ensure that Eldorado Gold’s operations comply with the environmental and social standards that EDC purports to demand of its clients?
Yours truly,
Vaggelis Lampakis, Mayor of Alexandroupolia
Tolis Papageorgiou, Hellenic Mining Watch
Maria Kadoglou, Hellenic Mining Watch
cc: Karyn Keenan
Halifax Initiative
Jamie Kneen
MiningWatch Canada