YEREVAN, April 20. /ARKA/. Some of Armenia-based mining companies started offering part of their shares to the government, Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Minister Gnel Sanosyan said Thursday.
He said an example of mutually beneficial private-public sector cooperation is the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, which manages the country’s largest deposit, the Kajaran Copper-Molybdenum Mine.
Speaking at an extraordinary session of the National Assembly Sanosyan said the Russian GeoPromining company after acquiring 60 percent of its shares in the fall of 2021, donated a quarter of its stake to the Armenian government.
He said the amount of taxes paid by mining companies rose from 48 billion drams in 2021 to 144 billion drams in 2022.
‘The rise was partly due to the rise in world metal prices. But on the other hand it was also due to the improvement of the management,” Sanosyan said.
The minister said the Amulsar gold project followed suit. The Lydian International company, which develops the gold mine through its subsidiary Lydian Armenia, donated 12.5% of the latter’s shares to the Armenian government.
“We already have cases when other companies offer the government some of their shares. They see that the government is ready to help them in a number of issues,” Sanosyan said.
Zangezur combine
The Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine is one of the largest companies in Armenia, which has topped for years the list of Armenia’s 1000 largest corporate taxpayers. The combine is located in the town of Kajaran, developing the Kajaran copper-molybdenum deposit.
According to experts, there is enough copper ore for the combine to develop the deposit for another 150 years. The shareholders of the plant are the Industrial Company, which is a 100% subsidiary of GeoPromining Armenia and the Armenian government with 21.9% stake.
Amulsar project
Earlier this year Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan, Lydian Armenia company’s board member Jeffrey Coach, and a senior executive of the Kazakhstan-based Eurasian Development Bank (EDB signed a memorandum of understanding in Yerevan to restart the Amulsar project.
The company will have to raise $250 million for finishing the construction of mining and smelting facilities at Amulsar. To that end Lydian Armenia will borrow $100 million from the EDB and another $50 million from an Armenian bank.
The company plans to produce 7 tons of gold per year. Armenian government will receive 12.5% of the new company’s shares in return for its pledge to manage their risks. The Lydian Armenia is expected also to pay between 30 and 40 billion drams ($75-$100 million) in various taxes each year and create hundreds of jobs.
