{"id":1148066,"date":"2019-11-05T07:51:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T13:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1006037"},"modified":"2019-11-05T07:51:17","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T13:51:17","slug":"lydians-gold-project-in-armenia-hits-new-roadblock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1148066","title":{"rendered":"Lydian\u2019s gold project in Armenia hits new roadblock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lydian International (TSX:LYD) is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lydianinternational.co.uk\/news\/2019-news\/481-\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">planning to embark on fresh legal actions against Armenia<\/a>, after hitting a new roadblock in its path to building the massive Amulsar gold mine, in the country\u2019s mountainous south.<\/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 move comes after the environment minister rejected last<br \/>\nweek the mining company\u2019s application for a licence to draw 40 litres per<br \/>\nsecond (l\/s) from the Darb river.<\/p>\n<p>Lydian initially requested 43.5 l\/s, but the ministry said<br \/>\nit needed to revisit the requested volumes, citing seasonal insufficiency of<br \/>\nwater in the river during three months of the year.<\/p>\n<p>The miner is now challenging the authority\u2019s decision on the<br \/>\nbasis that it failed to decide on the application within the stipulated<br \/>\ntimeframe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is regrettable that Lydian must once again seek assistance from the Armenian judiciary to address unlawful attempts to interfere with Lydian&#8217;s legal right to develop and operate the Amulsar project,&#8221; interim president and chief executive, Edward Sellers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lydianinternational.co.uk\/news\/2019-news\/481-\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said in the statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In October, Armenia\u2019s Administrative Court ruled that a former government official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lydianinternational.co.uk\/news\/2019-news\/480-\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">had been acting illegally<\/a> to prevent Lydian from advancing the Amulsar project.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It now appears that a minister in the government of<br \/>\nArmenia is also acting illegally to prevent Lydian from advancing the Amulsar<br \/>\nproject,&#8221; Sellers said.<\/p>\n<p>Work on Amulsar came to a halt in June last year when protestors set up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/lydian-scores-small-victory-in-armenia-as-criminal-probe-into-blockades-launched\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">illegal blockades preventing access to the mine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The miner filed a complaint with local police shortly after,<br \/>\nbut they declined to launch a criminal investigation on the issue, saying there<br \/>\nwas no basis for the removal of protestors, their vehicles, tents and trailers.<\/p>\n<p>Lydian then went the legal way, applying in September for a<br \/>\nreversal of the police\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>In January this year, the highest court of appeal ruled in<br \/>\nLydian\u2019s favour, but law enforcement officers have not restored uninterrupted<br \/>\naccess to the mine site, located in Armenia\u2019s mountainous south.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Locals\u2019 concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\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>The conclusions of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/armenia-clears-lydian-to-go-ahead-with-amulsar-gold-project\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">independent report published in August<\/a>, however, suggest that after taking additional safety measures recommended in the document, Lydian should be permitted to resume its operations.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miner will embark on further legal action to progress its stalled Amulsar gold project after being denied a water permit.<\/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":[2849,949,369],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148066"}],"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=1148066"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1148145,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148066\/revisions\/1148145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1148066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1148066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1148066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}