Turkey: Bergama-Eurogold Update

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

thursday May 21, 3:29 am Eastern Time

Normandy says in dark on Turkey mine start

ADELAIDE, May 21 (Reuters) - Australia's Normandy Mining Ltd (NDY.AX)
said it did not know when its long-delayed Ovacik gold mine in Turkey
might win development approval from the government.

``Turkey has been a long, hard road, (but) we remain confident we will
get it going,'' Normandy executive chairman Robert Champion de
Crespigny said late on Wednesday.

Production at the US$46 million Eurogold gold project, jointly owned
by Normandy and Canada's Inmet Holding Corp (IMN.TO - news), has been
delayed since last December due to legal obstacles and opposition from
local villagers.

The Turkish government demanded the company stop work in early April
after the country's top administrative court upheld a verdict
cancelling its work permit.

Eurogold this month sent its 120 local employees home on unpaid,
indefinite leave, saying it would be possible for them to return to
work only when production begins at the mine, located near the ancient
town of Bergama, off Turkey's Aegean coast.

``We hope it is not two or three years, but it certainly is not going
to be tomorrow and it certainly will not be before our end-of-year
(July/June) results come out, so it is not imminent,'' de Crespigny
said.

Bergama villagers have argued the proposed cyanide leaching method to
extract gold at the Ovacik mine was dangerous to health and the
environment.

"It is like running up a sand-dune," de Crespigny said. 

``Something goes well and then we slip back again, and we have just
slipped back. We are still confident we will get there,'' he added.

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
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