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    Categories: 2020

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/13/2020

                                        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
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

 


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