ArmInfo. Today, on 3 July, Lydian Armenia sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Ministers of Nature Protection, Emergency, Economic Development and Investments, Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, Territorial Administration and Development, that since June 22, due to illegal closure of roads leading to the Amulsar deposit, the company's personnel can not conduct monitoring for management and ensuring environmental safety. The relevant departments were informed about this on June 28.
"Lydian informs state authorities that the company's personnel are no longer responsible for the current conditions in the deposit due to illegal blockade of roads," the company statement reads. According to the source, at present the community of ecologists Lydian Armenia cannot control the flow of surface water and its quality. In addition, the company cannot control the level of dust in the deposit without operators and watering machines.
In addition, another important operation is the passive air quality monitoring, which is being carried out in 11 locations. "The company invested a significant amount and time to implement a strategy for managing future wastes, which involves the introduction of modern methods in accordance with the most stringent standards. In particular, this also applies to the use of laboratory instruments that require regularity and monitoring, the supply of samples in the laboratory that are located outside the deposit. These works are already suspended for 10 days, which can cause significant damage to the work carried out within six months," the report said.
The company reports that in such conditions it is not able to exercise control over certain parameters and subsequently to assess whether its activities comply with the Armenian legislation or the best international practices to which Lydian Armenia applies in the absence of standards in legislation of RA. Moreover, there are serious suspicions regarding the possible looting of the company's property and equipment, due to the illegal closure of roads. The company appealed to the RA Police to identify the perpetrators, bring them to justice and demand to conduct a check in the territory of Amulsar.
Today the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has commented on the program of Amulsar. The Office notes that the right to subsoil use can be terminated only in cases envisaged by the RA Law "On Subsoil", and the right of Lydian Armenia can not be suspended based on the conclusions of international organizations.
"The Amulsar project has successfully passed the certification of compliance with the International Cyanide Management Code, and in 2018, in an official statement from the International Institute of Cyanide Management on January 18, according to the results of an independent audit, Lydian Armenia complies with all principles and practices of the International Cyanide Management Code. At the moment, a significant part of the construction work of other environmental management systems has been implemented," the company statement said.
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 IFC and EBRD. The Amulsar project is the largest industrial project in Armenia for the development of the Amulsar gold deposit with 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.