The share price of Toronto-listed Lydian International soared 27% on Wednesday, after the results of an environmental audit focusing on its Amulsar mine were published and an Armenian special investigative committee (SIC) found that there was no grounds for a criminal case.
The company has now been subject to three full-scale environmental audits since July last year.
In a statement, Lydian quoted the head for investigation of corruption-related property crimes and cybercrimes of the SIC as saying that the investigative body had analysed the information and findings provided by the international audit report and that it had found that there were no grounds for criminal prosecution and continuation of criminal proceedings.
The audit focused on the “wilful concealing of information about pollution of the environment by officials related to the exploitation of the Amulsar gold mine” and was started in March this year.
“It has been a tough year for many thousands of direct and indirect stakeholders in the Amulsar project. We want to thank our employees, contractors, suppliers, communities, lenders, shareholders and other supporters who believed in Lydian throughout the process,” commented Lydian interim president and CEO Edwards Sellers.
Lydian has repeatedly said that it operated in accordance with its mining permits, which were granted based on an environmental impact assessment approval process.
Amulsar will be a large-scale, low-cost operation with production targeted to average about 225 000 oz/y over an initial ten-year mine life. But illegal blockades have prevented access to Amulsar since late June last year. Despite court rulings in the mine’s favour, the police had not restored uninterrupted access to its mine site.
The company had notified the Armenia government of disputes relating to road access blockages.
Lydian’s share price closed 27% higher at C$0.16 a share on Wednesday.