Kyrgyzstan in full control of Kumtor gold mine as Centerra takes legal action
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan said they are in full control of the giant Kumtor gold mine after taking over management of the mine from Canada's Centerra Gold which has taken legal action over the seizure.
Kumtor, the largest foreign investment project in Kyrgyzstan, was operated by Centerra Gold until last month when Kyrgyz lawmakers passed a law giving the state power to temporarily take control of the mine and appoint "external management" to address alleged environmental and safety problems.
The move came months after nationalist politician Sadyr Japarov, a long-time supporter of Kumtor nationalisation, won a landslide victory in a presidential election in January.
"All units are working without interruptions at the moment," Nurdin Usenov, acting chief production officer at the mine, told reporters during a government-sponsored media tour to Kumtor last Friday.
The mine will stick to output plans approved under Centerra he said, which amounted to 470 000 oz to 510 000 oz, or 14.62 t to 15.86 t, this year.
Centerra Gold said this week its Kyrgyz units, Kumtor Gold Co and Kumtor Operating Co, had commenced bankruptcy proceedings in a US court following the nationalisation of the mine by the former Soviet republic.
Kyrgyzstan has a long history of disputes with Centerra Gold over how to share profits from the country's biggest industrial enterprise.
Dinara Kutmanova, the head of state environment and climate committee, said during the media tour the operator of one of the world's highest-altitude mines had damaged nearby glaciers by dumping more than a billion tonnes of waste rock there.
Scott Perry, Centerra Gold president and chief executive, said the accusations were without merit.
"If you look at our operating activities ... it's approved annually by the government's regulatory authorities and related agencies and they've never asked us to make any changes to the way we operate the mine," he told Reuters in an interview.
"Unfortunately I have to say that it really appears to be a concerted effort to falsely justify a nationalisation of the mine."
Centerra said bankruptcy proceedings would prevent further efforts by the Kyrgyz government to strip Kumtor Gold of its assets or otherwise "improperly dispose" of the Kumtor mine in violation of its investment agreements with the company.
The company had earlier initiated international arbitration proceedings against Bishkek.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation