Lydian International Limited through its wholly owned Armenian operating subsidiary has entered into a US$24 million secured credit facility with Ameriabank.

Proceeds of the Facility will be used for equipment purchases at Lydian's 100%-owned Amulsar Gold Project in Armenia. Construction at Amulsar started in October 2016; first gold production is expected during the first quarter of 2018.

Howard Stevenson, Lydian's President and CEO, commented: "We are extremely pleased to put in place this portion of the financing for Amulsar with Ameriabank. Lydian is now within US$50 million of its total Amulsar financing plan of at least US$420 million. We expect to fill this remaining amount with other equipment financing facilities, which are well advanced at this time. Ameriabank is the largest bank in Armenia, and will be among our most valued in-country partners."

"Ameriabank is proud to support this exciting development in the mining sector in Armenia, which will be a boosting factor for the mining sector and Armenian economy in general. We are looking forward to a long relationship with the Lydian team," said Gagik Sahakyan, Director, Corporate Banking.

The Ameriabank Facility is available in multiple tranches; an initial advance of US$10 million is expected to be drawn as early as December 2016. Each tranche will be repayable over a 10-year period from the date of advance, including an initial principal grace period of one year.

The Facility bears an interest at Libor plus 8.75%. A commitment fee of 2% will apply to any undrawn portion of the Facility. The principle security consists of specific equipment financed by Ameriabank. In addition, Lydian has provided an unsecured guarantee in favour of Ameriabank. All advances under the Facility are subject to satisfaction of certain conditions.

Endeavour Financial is acting as financial advisor to Lydian.