GOLD MINING – Eldorado starts up Kisladag mine

TURKEY - ELDORADO GOLD CORP. of Vancouver has announced the start-up of its Kisladag heap leach gold project in Turkey. There are 1.0 million tonnes of oxide ore on the leach pad now, and the company expects to increase that to 5.5 million tonnes by the end of the year. The mine expects to produce 120,000 oz of gold for the remainder of 2006, and double that amount in 2007.

The Kisladag deposit has 135.0 million tonnes of proven and probable reserves grading 1.16 g/t Au, or 5.1 million oz of contained gold. Eldorado's capital costs were US$83.4 million to create a 240,000-oz/year producer. Cash operating costs are estimated to be US$181/oz. The project will be built in two phases. Phase 1, getting the property into production, is complete. Phase 2 will get underway during the second year of operation, expanding the crushing circuit to the final design capacity of 10.0 million tonnes/year.

Go to www.EldoradoGold.com for complete project information including the feasibility study, geology and construction schedule.