Wednesday, October 15 2014

Development of the Amulsar gold-bearing deposit project will be launched at the beginning of 2015, Minister of Economy Karen Chshmarityan told reporters, Wednesday. 

He said the feasibility study is ready and investments will total around $300-$350 million. The annual export of output  will total $150 million. (Earlier, the minister mentioned another amount - $200-$250 million). Chshmarityan hopes  the problems of environmentalists will be settled within the nearest future, as the environmental component of the project is of vital importance. 

As it was reported earlier, Lydian International Limited plans capital investments of approximately  $426 million in the Amulsar gold project in Armenia in 2015-2016. The mine life is 10.4 year with the gold production averaging over 200,000 ounces per year. The average cash  operating cost for gold production will total $694 per  ounce of gold Gold recoveries will total 84% and the strip ratio  anticipated at 2.8:1. The return of investments is anticipated in 5 years.  During the Project lifetime, the nominal throughput of 10 million of ore per year is planned from the outset, with processing of higher-grade ore during the initial five years.  

According to the Mineral Resources Estimate by the AMC Consultants (UK) Limited, the measured and indicated quantity of gold-bearing ore at Amulsar Gold Deposit is 77.200 million tonnes.  The estimated gold grade is 0.78 (g/t). The estimated silver grade is 3.6 (g/t), with the contained gold and silver totaling 1,940,000 (oz) and 8,810,000 (oz), respectively.  The inferred quantity of gold bearing ore is estimated at additional 45.100 million tonnes of ore.   

Geoteam CJSC launched large-scale geological exploration for gold and silver at Amulsar resulting in the discovery of the deposit in 2006. It is the only new gold deposit found in Armenia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The company has already invested $69 million in exploration and development to date.