Construction of Amulsar gold mine kicks off in Armenia

Armenian prime minister Hovik Abrahamyan traveled today to the southern province of Vayots Dzor to attend a ceremony marking the start of construction of the Amulsar gold mine.

This project is one of the largest international investment projects in Armenia. The capital construction, which will run from 2016 to 2018, is to cost  $370 million, according to the government press office.

In the most active construction phase the project will involve 1300 people. In ten years Lydian Armenia, the subsidiary of the British Lydian International, will provide 700 permanent jobs.

Amulsar deposit project is the first mining project in Armenia that underwent the environmental and social impact assessment in accordance with the criteria of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The event was attended by government officials, foreign ambassadors, representatives of international organizations and other officials.

Amulsar gold mine is the second largest gold mine in Armenia with pure gold reserves, located in the south-east of the country, 13 km from the resort town of Jermuk, between the rivers Arpa and Vorotan. The field contains about 31 million tons of ore and 40 tons of pure gold, ARKA reports.