Skouries Project

COPPER-GOLD MINING PROJECT

A landmark investment

The Skouries project, which is part of the Kassandra Mines, is located on the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece. This copper-gold porphyry deposit will be mined using a combination of surface and underground mining technologies, alongside the best-in-class sustainable practices. Based on the 2021 Feasibility Study, the initial life of the mine is approximately 20 years, and it is expected to produce on average 140,000 ounces of gold and 67 million pounds of copper per year.

By the end of the third quarter of 2025, Phase 2 construction was 73% complete. First production of copper-gold concentrate is expected toward the end of the first quarter of 2026, with commercial production expected in mid-2026.

Once operational, it will place Greece among the top gold-producing countries in Europe. Greece will also become a significant producer of copper contributing to the transition of the EU to a circular economy.
Download the Skouries Project Brochure PDF

Key Facts

LOCATION

NE Halkidiki

TYPE/PROCESSING METHOD

Open pit & underground

EXPECTED MINE LIFE

20 years

DEPOSIT TYPE

Copper-gold porphyry

Copper
Cu
Copper

Av. annual copper production

67 million pounds
Gold
Au
Gold

Av. annual gold production

140,000 ounces

OCTOBER 2025

Advancing Skouries

By the end of the third quarter of 2025, Phase 2 construction was 73% complete. First production of copper-gold concentrate is expected toward the end of the first quarter of 2026, with commercial production expected in mid-2026.

In Q1 2025, the capital cost estimate for Skouries was revised to $1.06 billion, with an additional $154 million in accelerated operational capital prior to commercial production, announced in a news release dated February 5, 2025. The project remains fully funded through equity and project financing. The Commercial Loan Facility and the RRF Facility totalling €680.4 million ($798.9 million) are now fully drawn. 

First production of the copper-gold concentrate is expected toward the end of Q1 2026 and commercial production is expected in mid-2026, with 2026 gold production projected to be between 135,000 and 155,000 ounces and copper production projected to be between 45 and 60 million pounds. 

Project capital totalled $137.7 million in Q3 2025 and $338.6 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2025. Accelerated operational capital was $17.7 million in Q3 2025 and $51.3 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2025. At September 30, 2025, cumulative project capital invested towards Phase 2 of construction totalled $843.4 million1 and the cumulative accelerated operational capital totalled $58.2 million.

In 2025, the project capital spend has been revised upward to $440 to $470 million reflecting the acceleration of work across several non-critical path areas and proactive de-risking efforts. The accelerated operational capital remains on track and is expected to be between $80 and $100 million. 

1 Excludes capitalized depreciation of $1.9 million in Q3 2025, and $5.1 million for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 (Q3 2024 - $nil, 2024 - includes $3.2 million) and corporate allocations of $0.3 million in Q3 2025, and $1.0 million for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 (Q3 2024 - $nil, 2024 - includes $1.5 million).

As at September 30, 2025 overall project progress was 73% complete for Phase 2 of construction, and 86% when including the first phase of construction.

Filtered Tailings Plant
Work continues to progress on the filtered tailings plant, which remains on the critical path. The filtered tailings building structural steel installation was 80% complete at the end of the quarter and approximately 92% at the end of October. Mechanical work progressed with the assembly of the filter presses with four complete at quarter end and the remaining two on plan for completion in November. 
The compressor building steel structure assembly reached 78% complete over the quarter and approximately 98% at the end of October. Mechanical installations are advancing with the installation of all six compressors and air receivers installed.  

The filter plant tank farm construction has progressed with all five tanks assembled and water tested with internal coating work now in progress.

Primary Crusher
Progress continues on the construction of the crusher building structure. The concrete has advanced to the final elevation above the foundation with the final wall lifts advancing. The primary crusher is assembled in position and work is underway on cable tray and internal structural steel stairways and platforms. Conveyor foundations between the primary crusher and process plant, inclusive of the coarse ore stockpile are complete. The stockpile dome foundation is expected to be complete in November, and pre-assembly of the stockpile dome has commenced. Conveyor pre-assembly is advancing and conveyor support steel installation is underway. The first of the three reclaim feeders and associated chute work has been installed and pre-assembly continues on the remaining two reclaim feeders.

Process Plant
Work in the process plant continues to expand to additional work fronts for cable tray, cable, piping and mechanical installations. The final building foundations for support infrastructure were completed in early October. Structural, mechanical, piping and electrical installations continue in the support infrastructure areas.

Work continues on the support infrastructure with the process plant substation electrical installations underway. The lime plant, flotation blowers, compressors and guar areas are all in various stages of mechanical, piping and electrical installations. The control building structure is complete and electrical installation work is underway on the first two levels.

Pre-commissioning of the concentrate filter presses has been completed along with all water testing in the flotation cells and tanks. Preparations are underway to start pre-commissioning of the pebble crusher with the addition of first fills and punch listing construction completion items. Piping and cable installations continued to ramp up over the quarter with a focus on flotation, grinding and utilities such as process water and fire water.

Thickeners
Construction of the three tailings thickeners progressed on plan during the quarter. Water testing of the first two thickeners has been completed, and piping installations have commenced as the pipe rack installations are completed. Work is advancing on the associated infrastructure with the pumphouse building piping and electrical work underway, and tank installations in the flocculant building. The thickeners secondary substation building is in the final interior finishing stage with electrical installations planned to start in Q4 2025.

Integrated Extractive Waste Management Facility
During the quarter, foundation preparation for the Karatzas Lakkos (KL) embankment continued, with notable commencement of the placement of the under-drainage layer in the center of the valley. At water management pond 2, liner placement preparation, consisting of shotcrete and geofabric placement commenced to enable the installation of the high-density polyethylene liner during Q4 2025.
Construction of the low-grade ore stockpile (lower part) started in the quarter. This area is important to the sequence of the KL embankment, which will be constructed over the lower part of the low-grade ore stockpile. The construction water management system has been upgraded significantly. The installed diversions, sumps (15), pumps and pipes are intended to mitigate water run-off from impacting construction progress.

Underground Development
Underground access development rates continued to accelerate during the quarter and are currently achieving approximately 400 metres per month. At the end of the quarter, the test stope drilling and the two raise-bore slots were completed, and the first test stope blast was successfully executed at the end of October.

Engineering
Engineering works are substantially complete. The focus recently has been on closing out the remaining engineering activities and providing technical clarifications when required to support construction. 

Procurement
All major procurement is complete. The focus continues on managing and expediting deliveries to support construction and the close-out of completed purchase orders.

Operations including Operational Readiness
The open pit mine has ramped up operations and at the end of Q3 2025 was operating with three (of four) crews. At the end of Q3 there was approximately 349,000 tonnes of open pit and underground ore on stockpile, containing approximately 9,800 oz of gold and 2.7 million pounds of copper. Grade control drilling covering 75% of the Phase 1 open pit has been completed. Operational readiness efforts are ongoing in Safety, Asset Management, Processing, and Supply Chain areas. Middle management for key positions in open pit mining and mobile maintenance have been recruited and onboarded with supervisory capacity bolstered in Q3 2025. 

Workforce
As at September 30, 2025, there were approximately 2,000 personnel working on site, including 390 Skouries employees of which 236 were Skouries operational personnel.

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Social and economic benefits

The Project is designed in line with responsible mining principles and it is expected to create economic and social value at a local and national level.

Its construction will involve a plethora of operations and the supply of significant quantities of materials and services which will boost local hiring, procurement and employment. Specifically, the project will involve new investments of over $1 billion with more than 1,700 positions required during construction.

The construction works at Skouries started in the summer of 2023 and will continue for approximately 3 years. First production is expected in the first quarter of 2026, with commercial production expected in mid-2026.

Best-in-class technologies and environmental design

The mine will incorporate advanced digital technologies throughout its operations, with leading practices in technology, exploration and mining, safety and environmental protection. The development of the project involves integrating leading environmental and social practices in our industry that ensure long-term positive impacts for all, such as the Integrated Extractive Waste & Water Management System, Filtered Tailings Technology, Backfilling, Parallel Rehabilitation and Environmental Monitoring.

The Integrated Extractive Waste & Water Management Facility includes the:

  • Construction of the new filtered tailings management facility
  • Construction of a new water treatment plant with a high grade of responsiveness to extreme weather conditions and the potential to provide clean water for irrigation to the local community.

Benefits of filtered tailings

Geotechnical stability

Up to 90% of the water is removed from the tailings using filtration. These solids are then conveyed and compacted within the storage facility to form a geotechnically stable solid, improving safety and stability and mitigating geotechnical risks.

Recycled water

Dry stack technology helps water to be recycled and reused in the production cycle, which minimizes the consumption of fresh water.

Smaller area occupied for tailings

Use of only one downstream embankment rather than two originally planned, resulting in 40% reduction in the environmental footprint compared to the initial design, thus an area of 486,000 square meters at the Lotsanikos basin remaining undisturbed.

Benefits of dry-stack tailings

 

Other sustainable practices and technologies

Protection of Water and Facilities

The Water Management Sustems offer:

• Reduced consumption via targeted projects such as filtering and recycling.
• A reduction in groundwater inflows by pre-draining waters and re-injecting them into the aquifer.
• Diversion of surface waters from the mine via water diversion channels.
• Treatment of water which comes into contact with mining activities at the mine water treatment plant and re-use in day-to-day operations.

Recycling and repurposing tailings (backfilling)

The majority of open pit excavated materials are repurposed for constructing Dry-Stack Tailings Facilities, water treatment ponds and other structures. Any excess materials will be repurposed for the gradual rehabilitation of tailings sites. Tailings will also be repurposed as underground and open pit mining backfill materials to restore the previous landscape.

Parallel environmental rehabilitation

The rehabilitation of conventional liquid tailings sites is normally possible after the end of a mine’s lifetime. Filtered tailings technology, however, enables progressive reclamation of the site in parallel with mining activities. That means that the site will be rehabilitated and ready to
hand back to the local community sooner after the end of mining activity.

Comprehensive Environmental Monitoring Programme

Hellas Gold has engineered and already uses one of the most comprehensive environmental monitoring programs in Europe. The Environmental Monitoring Program tracks air, soil and water quality, noise, seismicity and ecology across 500 data points to provide real-time, continuous and accurate assessment of ongoing environmental performance.

SKOURIES PROJECT

Best-in-class environmental design

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Geology & Mineralization

The Skouries porphyry copper-gold deposit is centred on a small (less than 400m in diameter), pencil-porphyry stock that intruded schist and gneiss of the Paleozoic Vertiskos Formation of the Serbo-Macedonian Massif, NE Greece. Mineralization extends for more than 920m depth from surface.

The porphyry is characterized by at least four intrusive phases that are of probable monzonite to syenite composition, but contain an intense potassic alteration and related stockwork veining that overprints the original protolith.

Potassic alteration and copper mineralization also extend into the country rock; approximately two thirds of the measured and indicated tonnes and 40% of the contained metal are hosted outside the porphyry.

The potassic alteration is syn- to late-magmatic in timing and is characterized by K-feldspar overgrowths on plagioclase, secondary biotite replacement of igneous hornblende and biotite, and a fine-grained groundmass of K-feldspar-quartz with disseminated magnetite.

Four main stages of veining are recognized: 1) an early stage of intense quartz-magnetite stockwork; 2) quartz-magnetite veinlets with chalcopyrite ± bornite; 3) quartz-biotite-chalcopyrite ± bornite-apatite-magnetite veinlets; and 4) a localized, late stage set of pyrite ± chalcopyrite-calcite-quartz veins. The host porphyry and potassic alteration at Skouries were coeval and formed during the Early Miocene.

SKOURIES

Virtual tour of our copper-gold asset

SKOURIES PROJECT GALLERY

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SKOURIES: A VIDEO OVERVIEW

Presentation of the Skouries project (2022)

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MINING PROJECTS

Olympias Mining Facilities

The state-of-the-art mining facilities at Olympias accommodate the underground gold, silver, lead and zinc mine of Hellas Gold. At the facilities of Olympias, we have created a privately-owned plant nursery inside an old tailings site. There, we are growing over 1 million plants to be used in environmental rehabilitation projects in the area.

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