Eldorado is awaiting a license for the mine in Halkidiki, a forested area in northern Greece, to determine whether to re-start construction. After years of confrontation with the government over environmental concerns, Vancouver-based Eldorado halted development in January, saying the government had been delaying necessary permits.

An official with the Greek energy ministry said in an interview on Friday that it had approved an amended technical study for Skouries to ensure that workers are safe from asbestos.

An RBC Capital Markets note on Friday cited a Bloomberg report that said Eldorado had won approval from the Ministry of Environment and Energy, but noted the article did not indicate if additional approvals were required.

"While we expect Eldorado's shares to react positively to the reports, we note that the company has not provided a formal press release at this time and we believe caution is warranted given previous starts and stops in Greece," RBC analyst Don Rollins wrote.

Eldorado shares rose nearly 6.5 percent to C$5.31 on the Toronto Stock Exchange late Friday afternoon.

(Reporting by Susan Taylor in Toronto and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Editing by Richard Chang)