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Didier Fohlen: It's time for Armenia to change the way it looks at mining
18:43 01.09.2014
Shake Avoyan
Public Radio of Armenia
The Amulsar project is a gold mine which is going to operate at the
border of Vayots Dzor and SyunikMarzes, approximately 12 km south of
Jermuk. The process for extracting gold from the rocks is going to be
heap leaching which has never been seen in Armenia. The advantage of
the heap leach facility is that it is a fully enclosed process in
terms of water and process effluent and it also doesn't generate any
tailings. In the end of the mine life the heap leach will be fully
reclaimed.
"We are also going to have an important programme of reforestation in
order to have as less as possible visual impacts. In terms of
investments, we are initially planning to invest of about $ 320
million, plus $ 60 million for all the vehicles and fleet. Totally,
the initially planned investment will be around$ 380 million," Didier
Fohlen, Executive Vice President (EVP) at Lydian International
Limited, said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.
"Throughout the 11 year of mine life we are planning to have
operational expenses of about $ 950 million. We estimate employment
during the construction will peak at 1500 jobs, and during operation
780 permanent jobs. We will pay taxes which will be in the range of $
tens of millions annually. We are going to have a significant impact
on local economy employing a number of people in the surrounding
villages," he added.
Despite this, NGOs in Armenia are clearly negative about the mining
industry. " It's easy to understand why, given the legacy of the
existing mines most of which are the heritage of the Soviet Union. In
many countries, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, Chile, Russia,
China, companies like Lydian operate mines in line with international
best practice. They operate the mines in a responsible way favoring
full transparency of their operation, monitoring closely the
environmental and social impact. They care for public health and
safety of their workers.
The key question to NGOs would be "why not to doing it in Armenia?" We
want to see change in Armenia by bringing new players who are
committed to do things differently. We have seen recently a number of
NGOs complaining against the company. If they don't want to engage
directly with us, we have proposed them mediation. So far we haven't
had a positive response. We are open, transparent and ready for
constructive dialogue around facts and we believe that's the only way
to move forward," the Vice President said.
Evaluating the Company's investment considering the fluctuations in
the metal commodity markets, Mr. Fohlen said: "All mining executives
wish to have higher metal prices. The gold price at this stage is on a
good growing curve. We, of course, expect that it is going to be
higher. If you are committed to international best practice, if you
want to be seen as a responsible company operating in a country like
Armenia, you build environmental and social issues in the design of
the project, from construction into operation and for final closure.
These are the right activities that are going to allow you to protect
the environment and local communities; and it is exactly what we are
doing for Amulsar. As an example, we are doing the rehabilitation of
the exploration areas that we don't need anymore for the purpose of
operation. We are finalizing this month a very detailed Environmental
and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) project which will lead to a
number of management plans to be implemented throughout the
construction and the operation of the mine. Finally, we have developed
with the support of international experts a very detailed closure plan
to show our commitment to close the mine properly, including ongoing
reclamation and final rehabilitation."
Lydian International is now waiting for permits to start production
and mine operations and hopes to get it by the end of the year. "We
can start the construction in the beginning of the next year, and the
production will commence at the end of 2016 as we have planned in
various presentations and discussions with the Government and our
shareholders," Didier Fohlen said.
He said the communities will get jobs and additional revenues from the
project, the Vice-President said. "But that's not the only key
priority for us. Our priority is to develop the local economy. At the
same time, we will not start employing a significant number of people
without providing them with training. We have an extremely ambitious
plan which we are probably going to conduct in the coming months. We
intend to have a training center around the mine which will be a place
where people will learn. Since we came to Armenia, we have provided
people with the opportunity to study geology, mining, environment and
these people are from the adjacent villages. Education and training
for villagers and the development of the local economy together with
mining will be a key priority. A mine basically employing around 780
people will probably generate an overall indirect employment of
several thousand people. We also started carrying out a number of
social and community development projects. At least in two adjacent
villages we have developed agricultural projects with local
institutions, NGOs, and foundation. This project allowed bringing new
skills, new technologies in the field of agriculture and promoting a
culture of creating new business," he concluded.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/09/01/didier-fohlen-its-time-for-armenia-to-change-the-way-it-looks-at-mining/
18:43 01.09.2014
Shake Avoyan
Public Radio of Armenia
The Amulsar project is a gold mine which is going to operate at the
border of Vayots Dzor and SyunikMarzes, approximately 12 km south of
Jermuk. The process for extracting gold from the rocks is going to be
heap leaching which has never been seen in Armenia. The advantage of
the heap leach facility is that it is a fully enclosed process in
terms of water and process effluent and it also doesn't generate any
tailings. In the end of the mine life the heap leach will be fully
reclaimed.
"We are also going to have an important programme of reforestation in
order to have as less as possible visual impacts. In terms of
investments, we are initially planning to invest of about $ 320
million, plus $ 60 million for all the vehicles and fleet. Totally,
the initially planned investment will be around$ 380 million," Didier
Fohlen, Executive Vice President (EVP) at Lydian International
Limited, said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia.
"Throughout the 11 year of mine life we are planning to have
operational expenses of about $ 950 million. We estimate employment
during the construction will peak at 1500 jobs, and during operation
780 permanent jobs. We will pay taxes which will be in the range of $
tens of millions annually. We are going to have a significant impact
on local economy employing a number of people in the surrounding
villages," he added.
Despite this, NGOs in Armenia are clearly negative about the mining
industry. " It's easy to understand why, given the legacy of the
existing mines most of which are the heritage of the Soviet Union. In
many countries, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, Chile, Russia,
China, companies like Lydian operate mines in line with international
best practice. They operate the mines in a responsible way favoring
full transparency of their operation, monitoring closely the
environmental and social impact. They care for public health and
safety of their workers.
The key question to NGOs would be "why not to doing it in Armenia?" We
want to see change in Armenia by bringing new players who are
committed to do things differently. We have seen recently a number of
NGOs complaining against the company. If they don't want to engage
directly with us, we have proposed them mediation. So far we haven't
had a positive response. We are open, transparent and ready for
constructive dialogue around facts and we believe that's the only way
to move forward," the Vice President said.
Evaluating the Company's investment considering the fluctuations in
the metal commodity markets, Mr. Fohlen said: "All mining executives
wish to have higher metal prices. The gold price at this stage is on a
good growing curve. We, of course, expect that it is going to be
higher. If you are committed to international best practice, if you
want to be seen as a responsible company operating in a country like
Armenia, you build environmental and social issues in the design of
the project, from construction into operation and for final closure.
These are the right activities that are going to allow you to protect
the environment and local communities; and it is exactly what we are
doing for Amulsar. As an example, we are doing the rehabilitation of
the exploration areas that we don't need anymore for the purpose of
operation. We are finalizing this month a very detailed Environmental
and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) project which will lead to a
number of management plans to be implemented throughout the
construction and the operation of the mine. Finally, we have developed
with the support of international experts a very detailed closure plan
to show our commitment to close the mine properly, including ongoing
reclamation and final rehabilitation."
Lydian International is now waiting for permits to start production
and mine operations and hopes to get it by the end of the year. "We
can start the construction in the beginning of the next year, and the
production will commence at the end of 2016 as we have planned in
various presentations and discussions with the Government and our
shareholders," Didier Fohlen said.
He said the communities will get jobs and additional revenues from the
project, the Vice-President said. "But that's not the only key
priority for us. Our priority is to develop the local economy. At the
same time, we will not start employing a significant number of people
without providing them with training. We have an extremely ambitious
plan which we are probably going to conduct in the coming months. We
intend to have a training center around the mine which will be a place
where people will learn. Since we came to Armenia, we have provided
people with the opportunity to study geology, mining, environment and
these people are from the adjacent villages. Education and training
for villagers and the development of the local economy together with
mining will be a key priority. A mine basically employing around 780
people will probably generate an overall indirect employment of
several thousand people. We also started carrying out a number of
social and community development projects. At least in two adjacent
villages we have developed agricultural projects with local
institutions, NGOs, and foundation. This project allowed bringing new
skills, new technologies in the field of agriculture and promoting a
culture of creating new business," he concluded.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/09/01/didier-fohlen-its-time-for-armenia-to-change-the-way-it-looks-at-mining/