ArmInfo.Today, our country is facing such challenges that do not allow us to abandon the fulfillment of our international obligations, including the abandonment of the high economic benefit from the exploitation of the Amulsar gold mine. RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan stated this in an interview to the Public Television of Armenia.
He noted that during the discussion of the government's medium-term spending program for 2024-2026, it became clear that for its full implementation, achievement of the planned economic growth, as well as tax revenues, it would be necessary to fill the missing 1.3 trillion drams.
Therefore, each such industrial program as Amulsar will allow the country to come closer to the full implementation of the planned economic programs.
At the same time, the minister stressed that in addition to the economic effect, the program carries a security component in a certain sense. In this context, the minister noted that a company with US-Canadian and British investments would operate close to the border. In addition, he added that thanks to high wages people living in the border areas will not leave their homes due to security problems. According to Kerobyan, the ecosystem formed thanks to the work of "Lydian Armenia" (exploiter of the Amulsar mine), will maintain economic activity in these regions at a high level.
The minister noted that to restart the project, the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) allocated $100 million, $50 million - a local bank (there is till no information which bank exactly), $70 million - Capital National, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, and $30 million - will attract shareholders of the company.
It should be noted that during the signing of the tripartite memorandum of understanding between the Government of the Republic of Armenia, Lydian Armenia CJSC and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), which marked the restart of the program for the development of the Amulsar mine, the Minister of Economy of Armenia said that the exploitation of the field will increase Armenia's GDP by 1%. Within the framework of the memorandum, as Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said, $150 million will be invested, of which $100 million will be EDB loans, $50 million will be provided by a local bank, and an additional $100 million will be invested outside the agreement, Minister noted disclosing the source of funding. "The funds will be used to complete construction work at the mine and purchase the necessary equipment," he said. Since the end of 2018, the Amulsar gold mine has been blocked by environmental activists. Construction work on it had to be suspended. In March 2022, Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan noted that if nothing interferes, the work of the Amulsar gold mine will be resumed, referring to the department's program of measures, which contains a provision on solving the Amulsar problem. Earlier, before the change of beneficiaries, Lydian Armenia was a subsidiary of the British offshore Lydian International, which placed shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Then the company went through the process of delisting. As a result of the restructuring, the full stake in the company was transferred to the newly established Lydian Canada Ventures, owned by the U.S. firm Orion Mine Finance, and the Canadian company Osisko Gold Royalties. The total cost of the Amulsar project is $370 million. The estimated period of operation of the mine is 10 years and 4 months, while it is planned to produce an average of 200 thousand ounces of gold annually. The field is the second largest in Armenia. According to the company, the deposit contains about 73,733 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 resort town of Jermuk, in the interfluve of the Arpa and Vorotan rivers.
