YEREVAN/DEC. 23 2019 (The Bulletin) — Lydian International, the owner of the Amulsar gold mine in Armenia, said that it had called in protection from creditors while it held talks with them and restructured its loans.

For Armenia’s reputation as a place to do business, news that one of its most high-profile investors has had to call for protection from creditors will be damaging.

The company, which has registrations in Canada, Britain and the US, has been unable to access the Amulsar mine in the southeast of the country since June 2018 because local activists have blocked the single track road running up to the mine. They say that Lydian is causing environmental damage, accusations that Lydian denies.

Although the government of Nikol Pashynian has said it would disband the protests it has appeared less willing to do so in practice. Analysts have said that this is partly because the constituents that put Mr Pashinyan in power through a revolution in April and May 2018 are the same that are protesting against Lydian.

And in a statement, Lydian blamed the Armenian government for inaction which has turned creditors off the project.

“Despite its many public statements that there is no legal basis on which to prevent the Company’s development of the Amulsar Project, the Government of Armenia has failed to remove the illegal blockades,” Lydian said. “As a result, the Company’s lenders were not prepared to further extend a previously announced forbearance agreement, which expired on December 20, 2019.”

Lydian said that it had been granted 10 days of protection from creditors.
The Armenian government has not commented.
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

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