Armenian prime minister criticizes environmentalists for blocking access to Amulsar gold mine

"Am I interested in Amulsar resuming operation? Yes and no. I am interested because  the economy would have grown not by 7.5%, but more, and thousands of new jobs would have been created and etc. On the other hand, in no case will I agree that it would be exploited to the detriment of Armenia, the health of residents and inflict irreparable damage to the environment," the prime minister said.

He added that since the road is currently blocked, it is impossible to understand whether environmental damage is being done or not, and how serious it is.

“I consider these actions to be unreasonable, disrespectful and not in the interests of Armenia. Both earlier and now, there have been suspicions that certain circles are interested in this situation, who are doing everything to make changes on the stock exchange and acquire the shares. But they will be disappointed, because we will not allow such development, "said Pashinyan.

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.

A criminal investigation was opened that same month 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.

In 2019 October, the Administrative Court of Armenia  ruled in favour of Lydian Armenia, a subsidiary of TSX-listed Lydian International, and upheld the company’s appeal against a directive of the environmental and mining inspection body, which had blocked mining at the Amulsar site.

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. 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-