A December 2017 photo of the Amulsar site.
Another 115 dismissals are on the cards at Lydian International’s Amulsar project, in Armenia, as road blockages continue to prevent access to the site, forcing the Canada-listed company to enter into a forbearance agreement with its lenders.
About 130 employees have already been dismissed since the illegal blockades started in June, with a total of 87% of the company’s workforce having been dismissed.
In addition, Lydian has terminated certain construction-related contracts and placed other contractors on standby, resulting in an estimated 1 100 contracted jobs that have been lost, the company said in a statement on Friday.
“Our position and request of the Armenian government has been simple and consistent; we support the government’s audits and investigation initiatives, but Lydian should be allowed to continue construction during these processes,” said president and CEO João Carrêlo.
He expressed hope that the company would be allowed to construct the Amulsar mine, which would be Armenia’s largest gold producing operation.
“The reality of the situation caused by inaction to remove the illegal blockades requires us to evaluate a number of alternatives, which range from sourcing additional funding to complete construction at Amulsar to considering various strategic alternatives,” Carrêlo said.
Amulsar will be a large-scale operation with production targeted to average about 225 000 oz/y over an initial ten-year mine life.