Vice Prime Minister: Lydian Armenia`s latest statement requires  objective and consistent research

ArmInfo.  The last message of  the company Lydian Armenia requires an objective and consistent  investigation. Vice Premier of Armenia Tigran Avinyan made a  statement on the popular Lydian Armenia video. This was reported by  the press service of the government.

"The issue of exploitation of the Amulsar deposit is closely  connected both with the economic benefits for the RA, and with  potential environmental risks. It was with this goal that a working  group was formed, which, undoubtedly, will successfully carry out its  mission. At the same time, we can not but pay attention and express  our concern about new facts that should not escape from the attention  of the relevant bodies dealing with this issue," T. Avinyan said.

In particular, he stressed that the government should have full  confidence that persons pursuing personal interests did not try to  take advantage of the struggle initiated by environmentalists, as the  deputy prime minister noted, undoubtedly with honest goals for  preserving Amulsar and in general the nature of Armenia.

The Government of the Republic of Armenia is the guarantor of an  unbiased and lawful resolution of the exploitation of the Amulsar  deposit. With this aim in view of the new facts presented, according  to T.  Avinyan, it is necessary to conduct an objective investigation  based on the principles that ensure economic freedom and the  supremacy of the law.

"Armenia's economic interests, international rating, environmental  protection, and civilian honest struggle can not and should not be  abused in the hands of opportunists," he concluded.

Yesterday the company Lydian Armenia presented a video clip in which  the head of the Zangezur copper- molybdenum combine Vahe Hakobyan  appeared. The video captures fragments of how V. Hakobyan together  with his driver on the service car supplies food to the activists who  blocked the roads to the Amulsar deposit.

Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of the British Lydian International,  whose shareholders are also large international institutional  investors from the United States, Great Britain and a number of  European countries, including 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 for the construction and development of the field was  launched. 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. The company's shares are quoted on the Toronto Stock  Exchange.  Amulsar deposit is the second largest in Armenia.