Polymetal stuck in Armenia, the company failed to sell the last field  in the country

ArmInfo. Polymetal will continue to search for buyers at the Lichkvaz field in Armenia, its last asset in this country. As the newspaper "Kommersant", The small  producer Chaarat Gold had a preferential right to purchase, but he  refused to buy because of the high content of arsenic in the ore.  "The asset is good, we consider the chances for its implementation to  be quite good," Polymetal told Kommersant.

The right to acquire Lichkvaz Chaarat received in the framework of  the purchase from Polymetal of another Armenian field - Kapan. The  total amount of the deal closed in January of the current year was $  55 million, of which $ 10 million was paid in convertible Chaarat  bonds. Now Polymetal has exchanged them for a 3.5% stake in Chaarat,  which it cannot sell during the year. Chaarat has a preemptive right.   The representative of Polymetal, commenting on the "Kommersant"  question about the possibility of selling shares, said that while it  was too early to talk about it. "However, we do not exclude that if  Chaarat's business goes well and this is reflected in the rate of its  securities, we'll leave the company with a profit," the company said.  Chaarat shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange. After a year  ago, the company was headed by ex-CEO of the En + Group Artem  Volynets, the share price increased by 43%, to?  30. Market  capitalization is? 120 million.

Earlier, ArmInfo reported that the Lichkvaz field is located in  Meghri district, Syunik region in the south of Armenia, 380 km south  of Yerevan. According to the historical assessment of the deposit,  the estimated resources amount to 2.4 million tons of ore with a  grade of 6.9 g / t, which corresponds to approximately 0.6 million  ounces of gold equivalent / 18.7 tons /. In the mid-1990s, the  Lichkvaz-Teiskoe field was owned by Iberian Resources. In 2008, the  board of directors of the Australian company Tamaya Resources, which  owns an 82.6% stake in Iberian Resources, announced the mothballing  of a gold mining project at this field. According to the company,  depreciation costs in Armenia were higher, and gold reserves were  lower than expected. In this regard, the company decided to postpone  work on additional exploration of the polymetallic Lichkvaz-Teiskoe  deposit in Meghri, which was considered promising. According to  preliminary estimates by Iberian Resources, gold reserves at this  deposit amount to 17 tons. It is noted that the mineralization of the  deposit turned out to be more difficult than expected, and the test  work for organizing a cheaper production cycle was not successful.  Tamaya Resources decided to curtail investment activities in Armenia  and no longer invest additional resources, since the development of  the field in Meghri requires very large funds. The preliminary cost  of the investment program at 2009 prices was $ 65 million.

Note that, according to media reports, Chaarat Gold Holdings Limited,  registered in the British Virgin Islands, has been investing in  Kyrgyzstan for a long time, investing about $ 150 million here. The  company has been implementing gold mining projects in two fields -  Tulkubash, where from 2020 it is planned to produce 100 thousand  ounces of gold annually and Kyzyltash. The reserves of the latter are  estimated at 6 million ounces. The main shareholders of Chaarat are  the head of the board of directors, the co-founder of Brunswick,  Martin Andersson (33.4% of the shares and 6.1% of the votes in  convertible bonds), the Chinese state-owned China Nonferrous  International Mining Co. Ltd (CNIMC, 6.05%), Sarastro Group Limited  with BVI (4.74%), UBS (3.9%) and management (3.12%). Chaarat shares  since 2007 are traded on the LSE site.