After six years, Bulgaria’s government has granted a 30-year concession to Canada’s Dundee Precious Metals (dpm-t), bringing it a step closer to developing its Khan Krum deposit in Krumovgrad into an open-pit gold mine. But the company must still wait for the Minister of Environment and Waters to approve the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA), which is still in the public consultation phase.
Dundee acquired the Khan Krum deposit in 2003 and completed a definitive feasibility and an EIA in 2005. The mine plan envisioned a conventional fine grinding and carbon-in-leach operation. But the EIA approval procedure was stalled due to local objections and non-governmental organization activity.
The company submitted a second EIA for approval in 2010.
Bulgaria’s Council of Ministers granted the 30-year concession after Dundee reduced the mine’s operating footprint and agreed not to use cyanide in the processing.
The project’s new scope involves one integrated tailings and mine-waste facility, and a longer operating life than previously considered. The changes were based on community feedback on the earlier project proposal, the company says.
The proposed mine site is about 320 km southeast of Sofia, the capital, and just south of the town of Krumovgrad in the Rhodope mountains near Bulgaria’s border with Greece.
At presstime in Toronto, Dundee was trading at $8.61 per share. Over the last year, it has traded between a low of $2.95 on March 15, 2010, and a high of $10.26 on Dec. 6. The company has 124.9 million shares outstanding.
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