Hellas Gold

The purpose of the project is to rehabilitate and restore the natural landscape of the area around Kassandra Mines to its original state, both from the activity of the company itself (since 2014) and from the activity of previous uses (1960-1995). After the end of the mining activity of Hellas Gold, the wider area around the Kassandra Mines will be returned to the local community fully restored for exploitation.

See the related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUc6O3acwy8

Local Communities of the Municipality of Aristotle

Since 2012

The area is located NW of the existing Olympias processing plant, at approximately 400m. It is an open-air warehouse, which, according to historical data, was formed in 1988 for the storage of the produced concentrate of gold-bearing pyrites. These concentrates were stored there due to the impossibility of placing them on the market, as they were not marketable. Three piles had formed in the area, one after the other, occupying with their slopes a total area of 28 acres, which constituted a significant environmental burden on the area.

During 2007-2009, 279,000 tonnes of concentrate were removed through exports, while in 2014, 38 soil sampling boreholes were carried out to determine the extent and depth of soil remediation and in 2015 the removal of arsenopyrite residues and burdened soil materials began. To date, approximately 160,000 tons have been removed. Afterwards, sampling was done with soil excavations to confirm the remediation, followed by the laying of limestone as a soil improver and soil covering of the surface to restore the natural landform (morphological and physiographic characteristics) of the area to its former state. Also, the last tillage work was carried out to reduce soil compaction. Finally, the restoration was completed with the establishment of plantation, with seeds and plantings with species of local flora. The cost of the project so far amounts to approximately 800,000 euros.

Through special soil improvement works and continuous quality measurements, the rehabilitation and restoration of these areas has been completed with plant cover in 70% of the areas, using local flora species so that they can be easily integrated into the wider ecosystem of the surrounding area.

Department of Forestry AUTH

Environmental care and protection automatically create a need for trained and qualified workforce, with the adoption and development of a common culture of environmental awareness and protection, inside and outside the workplace.

Local Communities - Aristotle Municipality (Olympias, Stratoni, Stageira, Stratoniki, Megali Panagia, Neochori, Palaiochori)

Long before the approval of our investment plan for the development of the Kassandra Mines, we chose to reduce our environmental footprint and invest in the full restoration of the entire surface of Olympias from the footprint of previous mining activity. The challenge was to fully restore the area and return it to the local community, maximizing the benefits of our investment for society.

Learn more: https://www.hellas-gold.com/prota-to-perivallon/apokatastasi/

The implementation of restoration projects such as the old arsenopyrite deposits shapes and defines our corporate identity and philosophy and meets our core objective of reducing the environmental footprint of our operations. At the same time, it requires a workforce with appropriate education and training, resulting in the creation of highly skilled Greek professionals in our activity and more broadly in the mining sector.