(Remember: through the magic of derivatives and rehypothecation, 1 oz can magically become 100 or 1000!)

Excerpt from Linked Article:

The [European] court ruled [in the European Commisson's favor] that Hellas Gold should pay €15,34 million to the Greek state. The Greek State and Hellas Gold appealed against the decision, but the appeal was rejected by the European Court.[2]

[interesting why the European Commission would sue the Greek government for failure to collect 15 million E from a private company.  to have standing in a civil suit, you must have interest in the transaction, even in Europe.  what was the European Commissions interest in the Greek government collecting that money?]

In July 2013, European Commissioner for Competition Joaquin Almunia declared that since the Greek State refused to collect the amount, the European Commission would take both parties again to the European Court. The case is still pending.[5]

In December 2011 Eldorado Gold initiated a $2.5 billion friendly takeover of European Goldfields. The acquisition, through which Eldorado Gold became the majority shareholder of Hellas Gold and the owner of the assets and mining rights of the Cassandra mines, was completed in February 2012.[6]

Christos Pachtas, Greek Deputy Economy Minister at the time of the Cassandra mines transaction, became the mayor of the Municipality of Aristotelis, where the mines are located.

[And for the aha moment.......]

Citing the drop in the price of gold as the main reason, the company announced in July 2013 that it will cut capital spending by 35%, thus pushing back the start date of the Skouries mine by at least a year, into 2016 or 2017.