Yerevan /Mediamax/. UK Ambassador Katherine Leach and U.S. Ambassador John Heffern visited the Amulsar gold project site and the two of the surrounding villages, namely Gorayk and Gndevaz June 26.

The trip was for the Ambassadors to familiarize themselves with the project details and with some of the social development projects Geoteam is undertaking in the neighboring communities, as part of their on-going Local Economic Development and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

During the trip, the Ambassadors were briefed by Lydian/Geoteam mining, environmental and social development teams about the current state of the project as well as the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) preparation and the Armenia permitting process.

At the conclusion of the visit Ambassador Leach said:

“At the G8 Summit last week our Prime Minister David Cameron stressed the importance of countries and companies working together to drive up global standards in the extractives sector.   As a UK based company Lydian International represents potentially the largest British investment in Armenia.It is important to us that this project is backed by investors, such as the IFC and EBRD, who demand the highest international standards in the mining industry. This includes making sure that local communities are kept closely informed and receiving positive economic and social benefits from the project.”

U.S. Ambassador John Heffern said:

“Lydian International’s Amulsar mine represents an important foreign investment project in  Armenia. Since many of the company’s shareholders are US based investors, I was interested in having a closer look at the project. The project has the potential to create a considerable economic impact in Armenia, and we hope it will provide an example of how a mining company can operate responsibly, in line with international best practice”

Geoteam CJSC the 100% owned subsidiary of Lydian International. Among its investors are worldwide known investment institutions such as New York based Amber Capital, First Eagle Investment Management, Franklin Templeton and Invesco Trimark Canada. Two of the largest and long term shareholders are IFC (part of the World Bank) and the European bank of Reconstruction and Development.