Yerevan /Mediamax/. Lydian International is going to make USD 426mln capital investment in Amulsar project, Lydian International President and CEO Howard Stevenson said in Yerevan.

He noted that since Amulsar mine was discovered in 2006 the company has invested over USD 69mln in exploration and other works, and is presently cooperating with the Armenian government to get a license to start the mine exploitation.

“After obtaining the license, we are planning to make a capital investment to the tune of USD 426mln. Once we have the final permission, we will start construction works in Q2, 2015. The process will last 18 months, and the mining process will start in Q1, 2017”, said the Lydian International President.

Given the current gold prices, starting from 2017 the company will pay around USD 40mln tax to the state budget of Armenia during the entire mine exploitation. The company will also pay annually around USD 1mln tax to community budgets in form of land rental fees.

Around 1500 jobs will be created in the active phase of mine construction within Amulsar project, and over 700 people will have regular work during the entire mine exploitation process, which will last around 10 years.

Howard Stevenson also informed that the feasibility study of the project was recently completed. The study revealed that Amulsar is one of the most attractive initiatives in mining in the region and in the gold sector in the entire world.

Over the past two weeks, 17 employees of European banks and financial institutions have visited Amulsar along with the Lydian International President and the company’s leadership to assess the situation and to recommend their partners to make investments in it.

“Loans will account for the majority of the investments to the tune of USD 426mln. The International Financial Corporation and EBRD are already project shareholders and potential lenders. We discuss investment possibilities with local banks as well”, said Howard Stevenson adding that 75 tons of gold is expected to be mined.