Lydian Armenia cannot be responsible for current situation around  Amulsar deposit

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.