{"id":1133350,"date":"2019-08-19T06:19:08","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T11:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=999593"},"modified":"2019-08-19T06:19:08","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T11:19:08","slug":"lydian-scores-small-victory-in-armenia-as-criminal-probe-into-blockades-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1133350","title":{"rendered":"Lydian scores small victory in Armenia as criminal probe into blockades launched"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lydian International (TSX:LYD) scored a small, but key victory in Armenia on Friday after a court of appeal ruled that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lydianinternational.co.uk\/news\/2019-news\/471-\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">police must prosecute a group of protesters<\/a> who have been illegally blocking access to the company\u2019s Amulsar gold project for more than a year.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The miner filed a complaint with local police in July last<br \/>\nyear, but they declined to launch a criminal investigation on the issue, saying<br \/>\nthere was no basis for the removal of protestors, their vehicles, tents and<br \/>\ntrailers. <\/p>\n<p>Lydian then went the legal way, applying in September for a reversal of the police\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>In January this year, the highest court of appeal ruled in Lydian&#8217;s<br \/>\nfavour, but law enforcement officers have not restored uninterrupted access to<br \/>\nthe mine site, located in Armenia\u2019s mountainous south.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Police must prosecute a group of protesters\u00a0who have been illegally blocking access to the company\u2019s Amulsar gold project for more than a year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Opponents claim Amulsar would threaten several endangered<br \/>\nanimal species that live in the area, including the world\u2019s rarest big cat, the<br \/>\nCaucasian Leopard, of which there are thought to be only 10 left in Armenia.<\/p>\n<p>The mine site sits above a tunnel that supplies water to<br \/>\nLake Sevan, the largest freshwater lake in the whole Caucasus region.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/bankwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Amulsar.-Report-2-Biodiversity-min.pdf\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Scientists have warned<\/a>&nbsp;that acidic drainage from the<br \/>\nmine would inevitably seep into the lake, posing a threat to Armenia\u2019s water<br \/>\nsystem.<\/p>\n<p>Amulsar is also next to Jermuk, a spa town built around<br \/>\nmineral springs, and an economy is based on health tourism. Opponents to the<br \/>\nmine claim dust from construction has curbed the influx of visitors and also<br \/>\naffected crops and grazing. Cattle, they say, have increasingly refused<br \/>\ndrinking water from streams on the mountain since construction started,<br \/>\naffecting local livelihoods.<\/p>\n<p>Last week\u2019s ruling supports Lydian\u2019s third appeal to the<br \/>\npolice decision of not forcing locals and environmental activists to stop Amulsar\u2019s<br \/>\nblockade. <\/p>\n<p>Based on company\u2019s estimates, the mine\u2019s siege has cost it<br \/>\nabout $100,000 a day, not counting that it had to lay off 83% of its workforce and<br \/>\nabout 1,100 contracted jobs.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Moving forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Also last week, the government of Armenia&nbsp;published the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/armenia-clears-lydian-to-go-ahead-with-amulsar-gold-project\/\" >results of a long-awaited public audit<\/a>, which sought <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/armenia-to-announce-decision-on-lydians-gold-project-next-week\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">determining Amulsar\u2019s potential impact<\/a> on the Southern Caucasus mountain range\u2019s wildlife and, particularly, in water resources.<\/p>\n<p>The assessment included a review of the project\u2019s<br \/>\nEnvironmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Environmental Impact<br \/>\nAssessment (EIA), even though the latter had been previously approved by the<br \/>\nArmenian authorities before construction began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLydian is pleased to see the international audit has confirmed most of the same conclusions reached during either the EIA\/ESIA process and\/or confirmed through subsequent detailed&nbsp; design,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lydianarmenia.am\/Lydians_position_ENG.pdf\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">company said<\/a> after reviewing a it. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are particularly pleased to see that the findings of the<br \/>\naudit confirm that there is no link between the groundwater beneath the project<br \/>\nsite and the Jermuk Mineral waters, and that the project is not likely to<br \/>\nresult in any measurable effect on Lake Sevan even in the event of a<br \/>\ncatastrophic occurrence such as an earthquake,\u201d Lydian noted<\/p>\n<p>The document did make recommendations, including a reassessment<br \/>\nof the capacity of contact water ponds and diversion systems and enlarge them<br \/>\nto accommodate a 500-year, 24-hour storm event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe information provided was more than sufficient for the authors of the audit report to form professional judgements consistent with those of other international experts who have previously considered the matters covered by the audit,\u201d Interim President and CEO, Edward Sellers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lydianinternational.co.uk\/news\/2019-news\/472-\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past year, the TSX-listed miner&nbsp;provided the<br \/>\nspecial investigative committee with more than 300 documents, totalling about<br \/>\n20,000 pages of information. It also participated in extensive technical<br \/>\ndiscussions during the audit.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Tainted reputation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Opposition to mining in Armenia has its roots in a long list<br \/>\nof environmental disasters&nbsp;caused by previous operations, as well as in<br \/>\nallegations of corruption among authorities in charge of granting licences.<\/p>\n<p>The country, however, needs foreign investment and jobs that<br \/>\nproperly run and managed mining projects could bring in.<\/p>\n<p>Minerals and metals make up about half of Armenia\u2019s exports<br \/>\nand mining accounted for about 3% of the country\u2019s economic output in 2017,<br \/>\ngovernment data shows.<\/p>\n<p>Lydian foresees Amulsar as a large-scale operation with<br \/>\nannual gold production averaging around 225,000 ounces over an initial 10-year<br \/>\nlife. Estimated mineral resources contain 3.5 million measured and indicated<br \/>\ngold ounces and 1.3 million inferred gold ounces as outlined in the Q1 2017<br \/>\ntechnical report.<\/p>\n<p>Last week\u2019s news favoured Lydian\u2019s shares, which closed at 16<br \/>\nCanadian cents. The stock has gained one-third in the past 30 days but is still<br \/>\ntrading 24% below its year-earlier level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Court of appeal ruled that police must prosecute a group of protesters who have been illegally blocking access to the company&rsquo;s Amulsar gold project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[949,369,4],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1133350"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133465,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133350\/revisions\/1133465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1133350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1133350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1133350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}