Yerevan August 13
Alina Hovhannisyan. A regular protest action by Lydian Armenia employees living in communities adjacent to the field was held next to the government building today. According to Mkhitar Arshakyan, a specialist in biodiversity monitoring of Lydian Armenia, the mining project has been idle for 53 days, during this period 3 letters were sent to the government calling for measures against lawlessness of a small group of activists who blocked the roads to the deposit and thereby stopped the work process.
To note, for almost 2 months the roads leading to the Amulsar gold mine have been blocked by a group of activists, who are against the development of the field. The police are not interfering in the process.
"Despite our appeals to the government, no actions are being taken," Arshakyan said in an interview with the press. Consequently, the employees decided once again to try to get attention of the authorities. This time the result did not take long. The head of the office of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan – Serzh Varag Siseryan invited 6 employees of the company for a dialog in the presence of journalists.
Presenting the situation at the field, Arshakyan voiced the main issue that worries all Lydian Armenia employees: "We were patient for 53 days, following the Prime Minister's request during his visit to Jermuk. A similar request was sent to protesting activists, but nothing changed after that. Our legal right to work has been violated. We sent a letter to the government three times. Having received no response, yesterday we decided jointly with the residents of the adjacent communities who are employees of the company, to gather near the government building and get an answer to our main question: why is our right to work violated, and when will we be able to return to our working place?"
Serzh Varag Siseryan called for patience until the end of the month, when the conclusions by the working group on the Amulsar project will be presented. "I know that you have waited long enough, and your right to work has been violated. But I ask to be patient for another 15 days. I assure you, at the end of the current month the decision will be made, "he stressed. In this light the Head of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister assured that the results of the research will be objective, as well as the subsequent decisions by the Prime Minister. "Our representative, assistant to Deputy Prime Minister Mikael Nahapetyan, is also a member of the working group. We, for our part, are doing everything possible to ensure the normal functioning of the research team, "he said.
In turn, the mine surveyor of Lydian Armenia Karen Badalyan addressed Serzh Varag Siseryan with a counter proposal: "Since we have made concessions for all these 53 days, why protesters can not do this for the next 15 days, and let us start work before the end of the month? In any case we will not manage to open the deposit in this period but at least people will not lose their jobs. At the same time, the surveyor raised the issue of migration. In particular, he stressed that some of employees from Saravan, which is a border community, have already left abroad in search of earnings. "If the issue is not resolved, I also intend to migrate from the country," K. Badalyan stressed. The head of the office of the Deputy Prime Minister assured that he will talk with the CEO of Lydian Armenia Hayk Aloyan on the issue of keeping the jobs. "The results of the discussion will be known today," he stressed.
In conclusion, Assistant Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs Vahe Danielyan added that the study of the working group will cover absolutely all the deposits operating in Armenia. ''Your work has not been suspended by the state, but only by a few people who hold the opinion that the Amulsar project contains environmental and health risks. Now, according to the prime minister's decision, a working group has been set up that will determine how much the anxiety of certain social strata corresponds to reality, and if there are risks, how can they be reduced to zero. This also corresponds to the government program and its interests, which are aimed at eliminating all kinds of abuses in the mining sector, "he concluded.
To recall, Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of British Lydian International, whose shareholders are also large international institutional investors from the United States, Great Britain, a number of European countries, including EBRD. The Amulsar project is the largest industrial project in Armenia for the development of the Amulsar gold deposit at 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.
