Ask our people to describe Eldorado and you’ll probably hear that we are a large company that feels like a small company. While we employ more than 7,200 people worldwide, we are very decentralized and our in-country teams have a lot of ownership over day-to-day decisions. They are also primarily from the local regions (99% of our site-level workforce are nationals of the countries where we operate), meaning they are personally invested in the communities near our mines.
“If we are injured or ill, we go to the local hospitals. Our employees’ children attend the village schools. We are a part of the local community,” says Mihalis Theodorakopoulos, managing director of Hellas Gold. “It’s important that we help build strong, vibrant communities.”
We do this through a commitment to local hiring, regional procurement of goods and services, paying taxes and royalties, and investing in corporate social responsibility programs such as improving local infrastructure, healthcare, education and agriculture initiatives.
“Living here, we are guardians of this investment,” says Mihalis. “We are here to ensure it is done properly, in accordance with the environmental terms and conditions.”
With families nearby – less than 10 kilometres away at some of our sites – safety and environmental considerations are always at the forefront of our teams’ minds. We all want to return home safely and to have green space in which to live.
Three Insights into Eldorado’s Local Approach
“A large part of our success in executing on our portfolio of assets is directly attributable to the strength of our in-country teams in the regions we operate. These teams have ensured the corporation’s success in understanding and adapting to each of these unique operating environments,” says Paul Wright, our CEO.
“Eldorado is very decentralized and that alone makes us quite unique. With a head office in Vancouver and significant time differences between the countries where we operate, we do not try to micro-manage our operations. We leave the day-to-day business to our in-country teams, who understand the cultural, community and political nuances of doing business in their home countries,” says Paul Skayman, Eldorado Gold’s COO.
“The communities we operate in are concerned about employment, and we take pride in offering employment and training opportunities to local community members,” says Eldorado Gold’s president, Norm Pitcher.
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