Pashinyan discusses situation with Amulsar with Lydian International and representatives of Jermuk
06.09.2019,
19:17
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hosted today Edward Sellers, interim president and CEO of Lydian International and Hayk Aloyan, CEO of Lydian Armenia company, the government said.
YEREVAN, September 6. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hosted today Edward Sellers, interim president and CEO of Lydian International and Hayk Aloyan, CEO of Lydian Armenia company, the government said.
Earlier today Pashinyan met with the representatives of Jermuk town of Vayots Dzor Marz in the Office of Government.
The Amulsar is the second biggest gold field, which contains 31 million tons of gold ore and 40 tons of a pure gold. It sits in the south-eastern area of Armenia, 13 kilometers from Jermuk. -0-
It said they discussed the situation around the Amulsar gold mine project, including, the conclusion of an international audit of the project.
It said focusing on the situation with the Amulsar project, the meeting specifically discussed issues related to environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures, project monitoring, legal, economic, environmental aspects of the problem and public concerns.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance of the ongoing government-society dialogue on issues of public concern, noting that the Amulsar issue should be resolved, based on the balanced interest of the Republic of Armenia, and further steps should be taken with due consideration of all components of the project, as a whole.
The development of the Amulsar project has been at a standstill for over a year due to local blockades. In July 2018, Lydian Armenia had been granted the exclusive right to develop the Amulsar gold deposit in the southeastern Armenian province of Vayots Dzor, filed a complaint in support of a criminal investigation against activists at the blockades, which was later upheld in court.
That same month, a criminal investigation was opened into whether Armenian public officials had withheld information regarding potential environmental damage at Amulsar. The Armenian authorities allocated nearly $400,000 to Lebanon-based Earth Link & Advanced Resources Development (ELARD) for an independent review of the project’s environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) as part of that investigation.
The independent review was published earlier this month. Referring to it Prime Minister Pashinyan appeared to permit the mine to go ahead despite protests in Jermuk and Yerevan. However, several days later Pashinyan requested that Armenia’s Ministry of Environment decide whether a further environmental impact assessment (EIA) was required for the Amulsar project.
Lydian Armenia, established in 2005 and owned by Lydian International LLC, extract gold in Armenia. The Amulsar Gold Mine program is the company's first project in Armenia.
