Lydian informs that because the roads to the Amulsar project continue to be illegally blocked, Lydian Armenia and its contractors had to lay off over 1300 of their employees over the last 6 months.

Approximately 460 of these employees were from the Amulsar’s surrounding communities.

The company noted that Lydian continues to monitor the social impacts as part of the company’s commitment to supporting local communities.

“Since the illegal blockage of the roads to the Amulsar project, the out-migration has increased in these communities compared to 2017. There was no registered permanent out-migration in Gndevaz, Gorayk or Saravan during 2017 when construction at Amulsar was in progress. However, by the end of 2018, 6 people migrated permanently from Gndevaz and 12 people from Saravan. At the end of 2017, 34 people had out-migrated permanently from Jermuk. At the end of 2018, this figure almost doubled to 64 people.

Seasonal out-migration increased in all four communities since the suspension of construction activities at Amulsar. According to the data collected from Jermuk, seasonal out-migration in 2017 totaled to 80 people, while in 2018, 219 people temporarily out-migrated from Jermuk in search of jobs,” the company’s statement reads.