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to free mining magnate sites in north increase for 100 years and goals to be mined 50 kilometers east of here. a lot of people are upset about that. mining and stuff trades are very sensitive you know chivvying up question what are we supposed to do eat grass this treasure in these mountains who would go we'll know when to. score years will start. we will be destroyed here. tourism is a key element of the economy here in the whole critical region. fishery agriculture also important because agriculture and tourism coexist with industrial morning greece's economy needs foreign investment but at what price.

we're on our way to the hellish gold company a subsidiary of the canadian mining group eldorado gold we want to interview some of the managers here. the security guard tells us to wait we want to find out more of the 3 mines that the company operates in this region especially the gold mine and scurries telephone call from the public relations department. a number of gold mines are to be built a northern greece proposed projects have led to bitter disputes between opponents and supporters. to lease papa gorgo as a co-founder of a citizen's movement that's trying to stop the mines he's been fighting against gold mining here for 20 years. more storm or people here is that with. their

fishing and polluters and good new moon she moves water means clean a minister in bio. and gives good years will start everything it will be destroyed so. the fire in the people is still existing. now we're headed for the gold mines of skerries with as is maria could talk to lisa's partner another outspoken opponent of industrial mining. she's considered an official leader of the movement that standing up to the bell the route of gold and its greek subsidiary. will stop outside the entrance to the mine by the time maria gets out of the car the security guards are already on the phone.

maria often comes here with a photographer to document possible environmental damage caused by the mine. this is where the gold will be extracted 1st with surface mining and then underground. $24000.00 tons of rock per day will be dug out of the soil but there's a lot of gold there less than one gram for total. a smelter will also be built here the value of the gold silver and copper the posits in this region is estimated at about $15000000000.00 euros more than 3 square kilometers of forest were cleared to make room for the mine. they built all this without a permit they got one later but it's still illegal. we checked and we were ported that and alba violations to the appropriate government ministry.

security guards arrived to find out what we're doing the entire area is sealed off like a top secret military base and visitors are not welcome. the mining company has been arguing with the greek government for years about this project some of the company's obligations were approved but others were not several of the disputes ended up in court or arbitration. the government has not yet given permission for the mud to open so things are on hold here. 6 at their home marina and to lease shows documents that outlined the long running dispute over the mine maria post news about the project almost every day or blog. there have been violent protests against the environmental damage caused here by the mine police have fired tear gas at the mining demonstrators. the company

equipment has been set on fire we did 2 reports of all of this for germany's a.r.d. t.v. network. we were filming in the nearby forest in april 23rd scene one of the spew broke out between activists and a mining company worker. who was trying to drive a bulldozer into the area and the protesters were determined to stop. the workers said he was just doing his job and if he didn't he'd be fired. yet at the protesters might get him to leave but the company was staying puts. a lot of losses in the this is an old growth forest and the mining company wants to build a road through here and a landfill so they're knocking down all the trees with their bulldozes even though they don't have permission to do that work and i need to go then that would now be . in july 20th well we interview. you'd cut a renewed glitzy had just been elected to represent how could decrease in

parliaments she was a member of the left wing so leads a party which was then part of the opposition. a lot of. the people of this region elected me so that i could go to parliament and try to stop this catastrophic gold mining project. in our bed in the side of this except that the filth. maria has often watched this video that shows the reason leader alexis tsipras insurance when he 13 we cut to rena glazier at a rally in the town of your recess. we will not abandon you in your legitimate struggle against armed police and oppression the next time i come to this town we will have doubled our share of the vote we will form the next government and we will guarantee social justice and environmental protection.

because. you're going to do it to police came there to take advantage of the situation to exploit their movement for political gains where they were saying was that we get elected on the 25th of january 2015 and on the 26th they are gone and the other is gone. not only did this not happen but during the years of the sears a government an entire plant was built that's called hears. $1800.00 hectares of forest were wiped out. in the years of legal wrangling of his eldorado stock price hard a drop to a 5 year low of about 60 u.s. cents a share and lay $28.00 in other words recovered somewhat recently. here's

a map of the color. the region resembles 103 fingers. the satellite view clearly shows the locations of the mines and retention basins. quite close to some populated areas the effect of the mining operation of the surrounding landscape has been considerable. so this here is the village of little tony and this is the location where they knew the new facilities will be built they knew what they saw in plant then you meant there was a plant and the cause of those because of the waste facility of work you know like us both of which you can already see over there in its size when you're working all of us with facility is even bigger than the villages that i thought i knew that you can see behind me also the dam that will confine their waste is

a business of only 500 meters from the village of some of the money where there's any environmental impact statement gold stated that is 3.5 kilometers. you can see is obviously not true. in addition the proposed landfill is located in a seismic hazard zone. in 132 this area was rocked by a severe earthquake that measured 7.2 on the richter scale an estimated 500 people were killed or injured. if a huge landfill that contained several 1000000 tons of highly toxic mining waste were to be struck by an earthquake the effects on the surrounding area could be devastating. a lot of miners live in st tony. palace gold operates a facility here the process is gold silver lead and zinc as concentrate.

the company also has a similar plant nearby a. lot of people here say that these factories are good for the local economy. this boehner says the mines are coke addict he's only future. this is the village of magali pelletier located not far from the skerries gold mine . about 3000 people live here and they are divided on the benefits of local mining . the dispute is cause friction among friends and family members. those who work in the mines say these facilities benefit the entire community. the more the 40 the only resources that we have in this region are the mines. there's nothing else we don't have tourist beaches or farm and there's nothing.

there what are we supposed to do eat grass this treasure in these mountains up to. the shop with a mining company if you get the local economy moving again they don't open it. you will see out along that last. report. georgists cutter a 0 to us is a veldt or has been working for hella school since 2012 here it's a good living and the complete pays wages on time. i work at the scowrers mine and it's a good job we used to have some problems with a few local people who were opposed to the mine but that's changing slowly. but if you are still dead set against the mine i don't know why. they're real hard liners . there. they don't even sit down with us and discuss the situation. they've got to disrupt it as the summit. this is the

east coast of college at the. minerals including gold have been mined here since ancient times but today the extraction of these resources take place on an industrial scale and that has caused severe environmental damage. the government's archaeological oversight agency must approve all construction projects. but has not yet been signed off from the scary mind. because ancient ruins were found there by the site of the city of a countless silver coins dating back to the 5th century b.c. have been found here this indicates that the city was prosperous at the time. the village of euro keeney is located about 50 kilometers to the west an open cast magna site mine has been operating here for 100 years explosives are used to

extract the so-called white gold. after the raw magma site lumps are blasted out of the ground there transported to the crushing plants. the mining company in magna site employs 340 workers and ministry toure's. it produces 160000 tons of magnesium carbonates and $50000.00 tons of basic refractory products per year. 75 percent of the output is sold in europe including 10 percent that's exported to germany. for british muslim abuse more. company managing director the meter supporter last shows around. the business was founded in 1959. by his father and grandfather. today it's one of the world's largest producers and exports of

magna sites. portales joined the company after he completed his studies in military service since the $1980.00 s. the site has paid close attention to the environmental protection. of the the other side of the mining areas to work now but we have to make plans so the idea is to include every have believed in the port of bricks and of the environment as part of your job and also to keep the area as live as possible i mean people live here people move around the area and one has to consider all saw the end of their life over mining and you don't want to leave something that looks terrible dangerous and. as with our mines in greece the land in which the grecian magna site facility is located belongs to the state. the government sells the exploration and mining

rights to companies. they are in money by selling the minerals they extract and they pay taxes on their profits. the rocks are crushed in several stages. and the employee keeps a close saw in the process. after the magna site is washed sorted and ground up it's fired into a rotary kiln at a temperature of about $1500.00 degrees celsius. mark the site is widely used for insulation and as a refractory material for blast furnace is in steel plants it's also a component part of products as the verses aircraft electric cattle and fertilizers . to reach are sports a loss and plant manager pov. are making a final inspection of their products. the company works hard to keep its regular

customers happy. but it also has to move into new markets and that's where it faces tough price competition especially from china. but porter last believes that greece's mining industry could compete effectively i think it is for a couple of reasons firstly rarely is there a lot of interesting especially invested in. minerals in greece which have not been fully exploited so that is it is that they're saying good leads in europe. and it's part of the european union but you don't have a on fire way places and all these sort of things so that's a signal thirdly there is a lot of mining know how most of the people working at this mine

may look at the head. of state job. which. he's. covering there. this took the financial needs which is interesting in many ways which requires a lot of new technologies and everything so we get a lot of young people that are interested to be employed in a place where new methods and in order to do that you know. that opens up new training and job prospects for those who can't or don't want to work in the tourism sector or in agriculture. for.

a lakers forward that this part of the mine complex. the water depth ranges between 4 and 6 meters depending on how much it's rain recently. the lake series is a habitat for birds and fish. water from the lake is used to irrigate olive groves and pine trees which are grown in the company's own nursery until they mature. then they are used in reforestation projects. some of the olive trees here are 2000 years old and they still bear fruits and demitra sports are lost loves to visit the nursery and reforestation is an important part of his company's business philosophy. we head live in the program for 3035 years or started in the in a very small scale and then as we. increase in the division of

the city we increased also the old. of trees that were sprayed in the mine and then they have me de de de de as. greece is the world's 2nd largest producer of olives. these pine trees will also be replanted elsewhere. near the mine complex we meet nico. he worked at the facility for more than 40 years now nikos to $65.00 and retired he earns a little extra money tending to these farm animals. what is it that when. he's in good physical shape. and so was goats and chickens. then if you want all the animals are fine the sulphur doesn't bother them at all i even let

the chickens pack around for food at the mine site. it's called that sort of a drug you give them. nigger says his mother also worked at the mine i'm a tains good held even in old age just like another it's. just. in recent years going to kenya has been transformed from a miner's village into a tourist resort. this pier where transport ships were loaded with magna sights doesn't seem to bother the visitors. some people have proposed converting the site into a trendy new restaurants but they have to find investors 1st.

the local economy is focusing more and more in terms of. for now hotels apartments tarrance and shops the kid at the visitors many of them use gary kinney as a starting point for trips around the region. at a cafe we talked to a local couple about the mining facility. the bulk of the month of. ramadan a little of what the magna site mine has been here for a long time. a lot of people worked there for years and then retired. now a lot of those jobs have been filled by young people and i don't think the mine has had a negative impact on local tourism up to be with you need to have those mine because . i'd say that the mine has actually helped the region in

some families people from several generations of work there in some cases 3 generations in fact. that is you know with. the mine has had a mostly positive influence. i can't think of any negatives. but up in skerries people are really worried about the gold mine. and that's why they get so upset and it's sort of sick you brought your fear for the cause of the growth of. a group of anti mining archivists have got into this bar in your recess to tell us about some of the clashes that have taken place between demonstrators and police at the skerries facility. talisa maria appear to some of the protesters were arrested and charged with various crimes here several of the people here full of the demonstrations and the police response and i'm going to give you the most of the many given the capital punishment that i want to the people at the summit i can remember what we heard the police talking on their radios and then they moved in.

we started running. some of us wanted to move forward. but couldn't because there was a lot of smoke that the many papers sought to get the people of the public and the police insulted us. i'm not going to repeat what they said. long at the bottom up bar must be so they roughed us out. i broke one of my arms. later i was charged with resisting arrest disturbing the peace and a few other things started these the see. the effort that. marina curry stereo was sentenced to probation and she's appealed the course decision. to get what is what we wanted them they charged us with manufacture of explosives. possession of explosives.

disturbing the peace and attempted manslaughter. it was like half the entire penal code the image of when you've got. the key to the end we got to the mines front gate the police fired tear gas at this you think of people panicked and some fell to the ground. several of us were there for the whole demonstration and we were the last to leave the mess with the government because the police took photographs of us and that's what it was and that was the evidence that the prosecutors used to do accuse us of organizing the demonstration. for starbucks and they just wrote a little bit of the middle for me we woke up in the middle of the night because we were afraid that the police were going to come over in a restaurant right away. they picked up some people from the village 2

days later we found out that they'd been taken to police headquarters. there were several trials and i had to pay court costs that was really expensive as they have already spent $10000.00 euros just for the skerries trial. to get like sure that if you got ago. it. was. like. this is the tell the whole of your a source one of 16 communities that makes up a municipality named for aristotle the ancient greek philosopher. georgia has been the new miss apologies mayor since 2015. he's a member of the party and an opponent of the gold mine he's been called several times to testify at the trials of the protesters. or that said he

would do for them so the indictment covers half the penal code for the defendants have been tied up in the courts for years and years ago when up and i've had to spend a lot of money on lawyers and court costs are you guys. even though they might be acquitted in the end up with the south pole. there's less water down the rivers and streams of calcavecchia because of climate change. the reasons water reservoir is located near mt kuk of us geology professor surrounds us dimitri out us says mining operations pose a serious threat to the reservoir. yet to the usual stuff so. if the old fart is allowed to scour his mind to open a facility has to be kept dry both above and below ground if there's a lot of water in the mountains. and it has to be pumped out from

a height of 670 meters above sea level to about 130 meters below sea level rises that will completely drain a large area in the mountains. the walls. the reservoir is essential for the entire cull could be the region to. store. or your lots more to scour as mine would release to toxic chemical substances into the environment. and those aspects dos and crystal in courts. if those materials got into pursue rounding communities either is danced or mixed with rain they could cause cancer. you know want to go yourself. a stereo spent santos and his friends the mitri are personally in beekeepers

hysteria zones 25 beehives live the village of gertie. about 3 kilometers from the skerries gold mine. is worried that if the gold mine is allowed to open it would pollute the surrounding trees and soil with toxic materials. those pollutants with then be absorbed by the beads and that could be deadly for the insects and for humans to read. through. the story of course. we had a similar situation about 40 years ago. back then and of our lines around here were strung up on wooden poles that were covered with coal tar creosote. during the hot summer months the creosote mounted. the beans thought it was nectar because it smelled like pine wood. later when people

extracted the honey from the hives it was full of creosote. there's something like that could happen again. with that pollutants from this gold mine. so the honey could be contaminated with the hospitals and crystalline quartz that we talked about earlier. but unlike creosote these materials would leave no visible trace. a lot of local farmers are worried about toxic materials getting into the ground water the soil where they grow their crops and the pastures where their livestock graze. yes. this is the satirist area the business was founded in 1906 and has grown steadily since then. the dairy no employs $25.00 people

they produce yogurt and cheese in shifts around the clock for sale to wholesalers and individual customers one of the managers the meter is the florists says the local residents are always talking about the gold mine. for the birds the people are nervous about it. but i think that we have to make use of the wealth that we have in this region. over the. border that may be a difficult choice. but i believe that this sort of development will be good for the community. for the environment for jobs and for the tourism sector was. a very also supplies products to the hotel where thomas as a need us work says manager here is the thoris believe that the future of depends on supporting and expanding local commerce and resources.

the local beaches are popular with tourists. during the spring and summer hotels guest houses and other accommodations are usually fully booked. hotel owners are trying to attract more tourists by extending the high season and targeting new demographic groups. they want to focus on promoting a high quality travel experience that highlights the region special features. thomas as a need us says that the region has a lot to offer. its the identity of our area local production is the pride of how giving we have so much gold being produced here in terms of. products. that really we could leave only with those. promotion and marketing of our.

local hotel owners have been demanding that the government do more to improve infrastructure. some of them even finance various improvements themselves like high speed internet services thomas as a need is tells us that his hotel the alexandra palace spent more than 80000 euros on this so far. the hotel philistine it was built at the end of the 1980s at that time most of the guests were greeks germans and britons. today many of the visitors come from nearby balkan countries like bulgaria romania and serbia . the number of greek guests has fallen off sharply in recent years mostly due to the country's financial crisis. several years ago gregorios to sirius took over as the hotel's manager before that his parents had managed the facility. the family is invested

a lot of money improving the accommodations. for sis as president of the cult could equal hotel association and the national hotel yale's federation. if he believes that terrorism in greece has a bright future i don't know. what i will and it's dangerous to demand the exploitation of the underground treasures in our region and. we should focus instead on the potential of the tourism industry. including the development of alternative tourism and hiking trails and golf courses. but we also need major impress trucks or improvements mike roads and projects that add value to the tourism sector. and of course we'd like to have a rail line that links the wrestler nikki dickey in to sell them into boston held in here. thomas says leaders serves on the board of the coca dk hotel association

but spends a lot of time lobbying local and national politicians for improvements in the regional tourism industry. i'm not going to ask for 2 months and that's the basics of roads. very odd system in hell given he's not the best trains. imagine just getting on a train in half an hour you're at the beach from the saloniki it will boost. the federal ministry of economy development inters i'm told is that it's now financing 14 road projects in calcavecchia alone at a cost of more than $35.00 this. expansion work continues at the airport of their saloniki. this facility and 13 or to regional airports in greece i now managed by a subsidiary of the german company fraport.

greece needs more investment especially now that the e.u. is ended its financial assistance program. but mines have a limited lifespan. the skerries facility would only be open for about 23 years. then there's a man the corporate we want sustainable economic growth and for vats will need sustainable jobs. but gold mining is not sustainable a mineral resources will run out one day and people who worked in the mines will have to find new jobs that's happened before in this region. like the know what i raise these points at the regional development conference in thessaloniki in march 2018. my stand on this issue is well known to the sciri to party and to the prime minister alexis to press and the minister of development and tourism your star talkies. and over the years all of them have expressed support

for my position. on the scene for new and those made to the camera stops in the battle with the one we've come to thessaloniki to interview journalists the liers nikka topless. he's done several reports in the mining industry in the region he says that the government will have to make some tough choices as a decides whether to sign off for the skerries mind. here for 30 in the course the more feel after the government to earn income from gold mining that a smelter will have to be built to produce a pure gold not just concentrate like now. but if that smelter is built it could cause serious health problems among the local residents. so that's the big control to see. if the government approves the scowrers mine. it will be risking the

health of people who live near it. still is shows there's a video of a 2017 t.v. report. in it the helis gold managing director talks about the new floating smelting process that the company wants to use. to for us this would be the 1st time anywhere in the world that this floating smelting process would be used to extract gold in a location that has high concentrations of arsenic. yet that means they'll be taking a pretty big risk. but even if the permits for the skerries gold mine were turned down stylistically topless predicts that the mining look continues in the region. like the european union is on record as saying that it wants member states to

become self-sufficient in the extraction of raw materials. that could mean turning all of northern greece into a mining zone the eldorado company is already looking at potential sites around the city of kill keysar trad o.-p. mountains and in the ever else river. meanwhile we're still waiting outside the hellish gold mine in st tony. we sent them a written request for an interview more than 3 months ago but the security guard still won't let us enter. by. well. the company has put up a sign that says nature hides power and prosperity in the depths of the earth but what lies ahead for the mining of the stream greece. can large and potentially dangerous projects because he doubts only in countries that disregard environmental protection rules and ignore the civil rights of citizens. the acceptance is

essential and you cannot have the business you cannot have. any industrial production in navia words don't accept it. as we drive through the forest at skerries we're followed by a police car. maria says that whenever she turns up at the mine company officials call the cops security is tight everywhere around the mine there's not much transparency here. so this is only a very small part of it and also you have to think that's good this is only the beginning of this month and cock of those has many men that out of the posits of gold and copper deposits identified by the company there are over 37 mining concessions if you are allow this to happen then there is so the entire mountain would be full of holes open pits and things.

i do have hope that the people will still have that this will not make it happen but it is extremely depressing to come here it's like an open home local people come up here and cry it has taken. it has taken a lot of tears and a lot of blood than a lot of. several weeks after we finished filming for this report school sent us a letter. the company said that it would fulfill all of its contractual obligations they noted that they had already invested about $750000000.00 in this project. and said that this mining facility will create jobs and generate revenue for the greek government. in september 28th dean heller skull filed an out of court claim for damages demanding $750000000.00 euros in compensation from the greek government.

the company said that suffered huge financial losses because the authorities kept stalling on granting permits for the skerries mine sort of dispute between heller scolded the government turned political. in december 28th in the greek council of states the country's highest administrative court began deliberations and whether to allow the mining companies to use the controversial floating smelting process. it's a complex situation for the region and for greece as a whole should the country's mineral resources be exploited simply to provide revenue for the governments or should greece focus on developing other less profitable sectors of its economy. how do you define process and losses anyway. the

ancient greek philosopher ira stoppel summed it up well enough nature is constant well this is not. a mysterious story teller. a struggle for survival. our $21.00 per. sense share is not. a symphonic suite by mikko live risky korsakoff. 30 minutes on d w.

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this is the doubling is a live from laden india's narrative on election process and voting has cost that ballots in delhi and other areas in a poll that could see the governing be j.p. significantly and also coming up anti-government protests in albania turned violent demonstrations trying to flag a firecracker.