Prime Minister: As long as the road to the Amulsar mine is closed,  the issue will not be resolved

ArmInfo. I urge the citizens of Armenia to open the road leading to the Amulsar mine. This was announced on January 25 at a press conference by Prime Minister of  Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

He noted that Armenia may face a legal problem in this matter, since  in this situation the Lydian Armenia company may appeal to the  arbitration court. "I consider the actions of our citizens in this  situation illogical, because it is because of their actions that the  situation has reached an impasse. This issue will not be resolved  until the road to Amulsar is closed," Pashinyan emphasized.

The Prime Minister expressed his point of view in connection with  this issue. "Do you think I'm interested in the Amulsar mine to start  operating? Yes and no. I'm interested in the mine's operate, since if  it operated, the country would record even higher economic growth,  much higher of what we have today, numerous jobs would also be  involved, but on the other hand, I don't want the mine to be  exploited to the detriment of the residents of Jermuk and cause  irreparable damage to the ecology of Armenia. I will not allow the  mine to act during harm to our inhabitants, because now the road to  the mine is closed, we can't understand whether its operation will  lead to irreversible consequences or not, "he said.

However, he noted that since the company is delisting on the stock  exchange (Toronto), that is, people who want to buy up (at a cheap  price - Ed.) shares of the company in the hope of using them for  certain purposes. The prime minister called this unacceptable and  noted that the state will take the most severe measures against these  actions.

Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of the British offshore Lydian  International. The total cost of the Amulsar project is $ 370  million. The mine's life is 10 years and 4 months, with an average of  200 thousand ounces of gold being mined annually. Amulsar mine is the  second largest reserves in Armenia. According to the company, the  deposit contains about 73733 kg of gold with an average grade of 0.78  g per ton, as well as 294.367 tons of silver with an average grade of  9.29 g per ton. It is located in the south-east of the country, 13 km  from the spa town of Jermuk, between the rivers Arpa and Vorotan.

It should be noted that despite the assurances of the Lydian company  that about $ 300 million has already been invested in the development  project of the Amulsar gold mine, environmentalists do not share the  government's enthusiasm about the attractiveness of the mine  exploitation plan. Environmentalists fear that the exploitation of  the mine, during which sodium cyanide will be used, may lead to the  oxidation of water in rivers. Contaminated waters will become  unsuitable for drinking and irrigation and may cause irreparable harm  to the mineral springs of Jermuk and the ecosystem of Sevan.  Since  the end of 2018, the road to the field has been closeed by  environmental activists. The company recently announced that it is  launching a delisting process for its shares listed on the Toronto  Stock Exchange.