Eldorado scores legal win over disputed Greek goldmine project

ATHENS (Reuters) - A top court in Greece ruled on Thursday in favor of Canada's Eldorado Gold (Toronto:ELD.TO - News) over its disputed goldmine project in the north of the country, though the project was expected to remain on ice for the time being, a company executive told Reuters.

The decision comes after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's leftist government announced last week that it was halting the $1 billion gold mine project run by Eldorado, one of the biggest foreign investments in the country, arguing that the company had violated contractual terms.

Eldorado halted its operations at the goldmine in Halkidiki region as a result and put most of its 2,000 employees on suspension.

Eldorado's country manager for Greece Eduardo Moura said on Thursday that the court ruled in favor of Eldorado after the company filed a lawsuit in April against Greek authorities on issues including a flash-melting technical study.

"The ruling in favor of (Eldorado subsidiary) Hellas Gold is the result of a lawsuit we filed months ago,” Moura said.

"It doesn't allow us to start activities in Halkidiki but it undermines the argument that the ministry used to revoke our permits," he added.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis)