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.
