Lydian Armenia tells about construction of Amulsar mine
Lydian Armenia General Manager Hayk Aloyan said that the construction is “in the most active stage” now.
“At this stage of construction, we already install the infrastructure for environmental management, the modern systems for mine drainage and water management, which will protect water resources in adjacent areas,” said Hayk Aloyan.
He informed that the construction will finish in summer of 2018 and the first batch of gold will be produced in the second half of the year. Amulsar is expected to produce 210,000 oz of gold annually with overall price of USD 250m.
Lydian Armenia’s Manager of Production Technical Services Edgar Zakaryan presented the systems under construction and the new technologies of Amulsar and noted that the company took measures to neutralize all possible water management-related risks.
“Currently, we are building the heap leach area. There will be an insulating barrier to prevent the cyanide-containing water from leaking. The drainage system will transfer the enriched water to the special tank. The residual water will be used for technical purposes,” explained Edgar Zakaryan.
Peter Nel, Technical Assurance Coordinator at Lydian Armenia, informed that the Amulsar project bought the largest vehicle fleet of Caterpillar in Armenia, modern equipment worth USD 65m in total.
“We purchased an excavator, nine trucks, one cargo carrier and several supporting vehicles. Six trucks are already operating and three others are on the way to Amulsar. This equipment is sufficient for the next two-three years,” he said.
The cost of Amulsar mine construction, scheduled to end in 2018, will make USD 370m. As of October, the mine construction had created 1500 jobs. Amulsar is expected to create 700 regular jobs in 10 years of operation of the mine.