Thursday,
Mining Company Downplays End Of EBRD Investment In Amulsar Project
August 13, 2020
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Gold mining facilities constructed by Lydian International company at
Amulsar deposit, 18 May 2018.
A company pursuing a gold mining project in Armenia amid protests by
environmental activists says the news about the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development’s (EBRD) ending its investment in the project will not affect
its activities.
The EBRD has told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun) that Lydian
International, which owns 100% of the shares of Lydian Armenia, the company that
intends to develop the Amulsar gold mine, has been insolvent since 2019 and is
currently being held in a Jersey court for the closing proceedings.
According to the EBRD, as of July 2020, the Amulsar gold mine belongs to the
Canadian Lydian Ventures, in which the prestigious international financial
institution is not a shareholder.
The Armenian government issued Lydian a license to develop a mine in Armenia’s
central Vayots Dzor province in 2016. But the site has been blockaded by
environmental activists and local residents since May 2018 when a new government
was formed in Armenia following the ‘Velvet Revolution’.
Activists claim that mining at Amulsar poses a danger to the local eco-system.
They demand that a new environmental impact study be conducted and that Lydian’s
license be revoked. In March 2019, Lydian notified the Armenian government of a
potential international arbitration.
According to Sustainable Development Director of Lydian Armenia Armen Stepanian,
Lydian International had to get delisted on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and as a
result of this restructuring the EBRD lost its shares.
Stepanian described it as a consequence of “long-term lawlessness in Armenia.”
“When we talk about lawlessness and inaction, in fact, we mean that roads
leading to the mining site remain closed. A group of people has decided that
these roads should be closed and have doomed the other side to idling, and it
has lasted so long that a need for restructuring has emerged. Let’s call it a
financial model. The structure of the organization needed to be changed so that
activities could be continued. It is difficult to imagine a business that could
wait for a decision for 26 months. It would be naive to think that financial
problems would not arise as a result,” Lydian’s representative said.
At this moment the EBRD has no legal relations with the Amulsar mining project,
but the project will be implemented regardless of this circumstance, Lydian
Armenia stressed. “This, in fact, will not affect the activities of the company
and the quality of its work,” the company said.
Environmental activist Tehmine Yenokian, who is a resident of the Gndevaz
community adjacent to the Amulsar mine, said that she recently learned that the
EBRD was no longer involved in the Amulsar mining project. She said that 23
residents of Jermuk, a resort town in the Vayots Dzor province, had filed a
complaint with the EBRD Ombudsman’s Office, which, according to her, was
accepted for consideration on June 12. Yenokian said it is from the reply to the
complaint that they learned that the bank no longer had financial interests in
the Amulsar project.
The activist claimed that the future of the company looks even more uncertain
and risky for them now. “Our complaint only helped reveal this information,
which for six months was hidden from different important circles in Armenia,”
Yenokian said.
The activist believes that even if the existing obstacles are removed, at this
moment Lydian Armenia has no financial ability to operate the mine. Lydian
Armenia counters: “We will find it out when we start working again at our
previous capacity. Lydian Armenia is not part of any bankruptcy proceedings
today.”
Armenian Government Approves More Pandemic Aid Packages
• Nane Sahakian
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at a government session (file photo)
The Armenian government on Thursday approved two more assistance programs aimed
at stimulating businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest aid packages are designed for tourism and agriculture, Economy
Minister Tigran Khachatrian said.
He said that so far this year revenues in the tourism sector of Armenia have
fallen twice as compared to the same period of 2019. The minister stressed that
the fresh government assistance will focus not only on hotels and tour
operators, but also on the public catering sector.
“As a result of financial difficulties caused by the pandemic, companies have
faced significant difficulties in maintaining the assets necessary for
continuing their business. The purpose of this support is to help companies
operating in this field to keep staffs and promote job increases,” Khachatrian
said.
During today’s government session Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and members of
his cabinet discussed at length whether companies breaking anti-epidemic
measures set by the authorities or evading taxes by not issuing cash register
receipts to their customers should be deprived of pandemic-related government
aid.
Pashinian called for a more responsible business behavior, stressing that those
who evade taxes “steal food from soldiers.”
After discussions the government decided that support should be denied to
businesses that do not provide customers with cash register receipts.
The other aid program approved by the government today is aimed at supporting
alcohol producers so that they can procure grapes.
“The coronavirus pandemic has affected the activities of brandy and wine
companies both on the domestic market and on the main foreign markets. Demand
for their products has fallen, which has also affected sales,” Economy Minister
Khachatrian explained.
At the start of the coronavirus-related lockdown in March the Armenian
government pledged at least 150 billion drams (about $300 million) for aid
packages to businesses and citizens affected by the pandemic as well as
post-crisis stimulation of the economy.
Aliyev Says Russian Military Supplies To Armenia Raise Concerns In Azerbaijan
• Gevorg Stamboltsian
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 1, 2018
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has expressed his dissatisfaction with what
he says was the fresh delivery of Russian military supplies to Armenia in the
weeks that followed the latest deadly fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border in July.
In a statement released on Thursday, the press service of the Azerbaijani leader
said that Aliyev raised the issue during his telephone conversation with Russian
President Vladimir Putin last night.
It said that the conversation was initiated by Aliyev to discuss the issue of
military supplies to Armenia.
According to the statement, Aliyev claimed that beginning on July 17, when the
situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border began to deescalate, “Moscow has
supplied about 400 tons of military supplies to Armenia.”
“The deliveries were made through the territories of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan
and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Aliyev said, as quoted by his press service,
adding that military supplies to Armenia raise “serious concerns and questions
among the Azerbaijani public.”
The Kremlin also issued a statement on the August 12 telephone conversation
between Putin and Aliyev, but it did not mention the discussion of the issue of
military supplies.
“The presidents discussed regional issues within the context of the tension
along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in July. The Russian side stressed the
inadmissibility of any action that would lead to the escalation of the
situation,” the Kremlin said in its statement.
Armenian officials have not commented on the Azerbaijani president’s statements
yet.
At least five Armenian servicemen and 12 Azerbaijani servicemen, including a
general, were killed during several days of fighting that erupted along the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border on July 12 and proceeded with the use of heavy
artillery and drones.
In the wake of the clashes the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe in which Russia acts as a co-chair along with the United
States and France urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to restart peace talks aimed at
resolving the decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia hosts a Russian military base and is a member of the Moscow-led
Collective Security Treaty Organization that entitles it to receive armaments
from Russia at knock-down prices. It is believed that since 2011 Azerbaijan has
purchased from Russia up to 4 billion dollars’ worth of arms, including some
modern offensive weapons.
After the July border escalation Azerbaijan also criticized Serbia for supplying
weapons to Armenia.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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