GLOBAL GOLD TO INVEST $32 MLN IN GOLD-POLYMETALLIC DEPOSIT IN ARMENIA
Interfax News Agency
June 26, 2008
Russia
U.S. company Global Gold Corporation (GGC) is to invest $32 million
in the development of the Mardzhan gold- polymetallic ore deposit in
the Sisian district of Armenia’s Syunik region, Ashot Pogosian, the
regional director of the company’s representative office in Armenia,
told Interfax.
The development of the field will be carried out over two to three
years and its cost could grow in the future, he said.
Pogosian said $20 million-$22 million would be invested in the
construction of an enrichment plant that will process ore using the
gravitation method. The plant should have capacity to process at least
1 million tonnes of ore per year, although this production level will
be reached gradually, he said. GGC will spend the remaining funds on
building infrastructure and research.
An open pit will be set up at the northern part of the deposit,
although ore will be extracted using underground methods at some
parts of the site.
GGC specialists began carrying out research at the deposit last
year, he said. The company also received a license to research areas
surrounding the deposit.
Preliminary estimates show the deposit has ore reserves of about 15
million tonnes, including 36 tonnes of gold, 170,000 tonnes of lead,
180,000 tonnes of zinc and 1,400 tonnes of silver.
Global Gold Corporation owns the rights to develop deposits in Armenia
and Chile. In Armenia, the company is carrying out exploration work
at the Ankavan copper-molybdenum deposit in the Kotayk region and
the Mardzhan deposit. GGC has also been developing the Tukhmanuk gold
deposit in northern Armenia since the end of 2007.