Despite a court ruling that police should remove trespassers and their property from TSX-listed Lydian International’s Amulsar site, in Armenia, illegal blockages are continuing and the company had to turn to the courts again for an additional ruling.
Lydian expects its new motion to be heard within the next 20 days, the company said on Monday, lamenting the fact that the police had not restored uninterrupted access to its mine site.
The mining firm reported that it had been informed in writing that the police believed it had complied with recent Administrative Court ruling that it had to remove trespassers by relocating some trailers blocking the Amulsar access roads to other locations. However, the company argued that the ruling had to been fully enforced.
“We consider the court’s ruling to be a recognition of the illegality of the trespassing and a call to the police to restore Lydian’s uninterrupted access to its property at Amulsar. Until full access to the Amulsar site has been restored, Lydian considers that the police have not fulfilled their obligations to enforce orders of the court. Lydian will pursue all legal options to protect its rights,” said interim CEO and president Edward Sellers.
Lydian has been deprived access to its site for about year now. Before the demonstrations started in June last year, the company was working towards entering production at the 225 000 oz/y mine in the fourth quarter of 2018, ramping up to full output in 2019.
The company in March notified the Armenia government of disputes relating to the blockages of road access. Under UK law, Lydian UK could submit the dispute to international arbitration three months after such formal notification and under Canadian legislation, it could do so after six months.