Friday, May 25 2018 18:49

ArmInfo. The companies statement reads: Lydian  Armenia shares the belief expressed by Armenia's Government in a  recent statement that all mining companies, need to comply with  environmental regulations ensuring the protection of the environment  and the well-being of our citizens. To this effect, we welcome the  initiative to undertake environmental compliance audits of the mining  industry to ensure that compliance is uniformly achieved and enforced  throughout the mining sector. Over the last days, several mining  companies in the country have been targeted, including Lydian's  Amulsar Project, with protests manifested by road blockages  disrupting operations. The protests at Amulsar led to peaceful  counter-protests by Lydian employees and company supporters from the  communities demanding from the protesters to restore their right to  work. The protesters have been alleging deficiencies in environmental  compliance and inconsistent hiring practices. Lydian has an  established grievance procedure and encourages all stakeholders, to  formally communicate specific concerns and grievances to the company  and thereby achieve resolutions that are mutually acceptable.  Presently, all access roads to Amulsar's project are open, workers  have returned to site, and construction activities are returning to  normal.  

At present, Amulsar deposit operation is resumed.

On the eve of the Council of Elders Jermuk, consisting mainly of  members and adherents of the old authorities - the Republican Party -  appealed to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with a demand to ban the  development of the Amulsar deposit.

In the opinion of independent observers, this appeal is completely  incomprehensible, like a kind of artful "sabotage", organized by  those who did not previously interfere with the work of the company  and did not make such claims that, as the Council of Elders said,  "engaged in the development gold deposit, Lydian International  received it with numerous violations, some of which are considered in  court. However, we can not wait indefinitely while trials continue,  and construction work is in full swing. "The Council of Elders  believes that the provisions of the international treaties signed by  Armenia are also violated, and corruptions are the basis for the  exploitation permit for the field.

Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of British Lydian International, whose  shareholders are large international institutional investors from the  United States, Great Britain, and a number of European countries,  including IFC and EBRD. The Amulsar project is the largest industrial  project in Armenia for the development of the Amulsar gold deposit at  a total cost of $ 370 million. In August 2016, a project was launched  that assumes the construction and development of the field.  Preliminary work has been carried out since 2006. The life of the  Amulsar deposit will be 10 years and 4 months, an annual average of  200,000 ounces of gold (about 10 million tons of ore) is planned.  Within the framework of the Amulsar program, 1,300 jobs will be  created in the construction process (construction works will last  about 2 years) and 650-700 jobs throughout the entire operation of  the field. The shareholders of the company are also international  institutional investors IFC and EBRD. The company's shares are quoted  on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  Amulsar deposit is the second largest  in Armenia.