ARARAT GOLD RECOVERY COMPANY INTENDS TO SUE RA MINISTRY OF NATURE PROTECTION

Noyan Tapan
Jun 28 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC)
intends to sue the RA Ministry of Nature Protection soon. AGRC lawyer
Armen Ter-Tachatian told NT correspondent that the ministry prepared
an act about the company’s failure to make its environmental protecion
payments, which, according to him, does not correspond to reality. He
said that AGRC’s lawsuits contesting 3 similar acts of the ministry
had been upheld previously. According to A. Ter-Tachatian, the last
act cannot be a ground for depriving AGRC of its licence. However,
if the question of depriving the company of its licence is raised
again, AGRC will appeal to an international court. To recap, AGRC
was founded in 1998 with the aim of extracting gold ore from Sotk
and Meghradzor mines and processing it at the Ararat Gold Recovery
Plant. Since 2002, First Dynasty Mines Armenia company (India) has
been a 100% owner of the enterprise.

Recently it sold 55% of its shares to Vedanta company.