Lydian Armenia denies any link to water contamination incident

Lydian Armenia, the operator of the Amulsar gold mine in southern Armenia, has denied any involvement in last week’s contamination of a water source in Kechut, a village in Vayots Dzor. 

“Lydian Armenia reports that the construction work currently underway at Amulsar has no connection to the water source contamination recorded last week in Kechut. This has also been confirmed by the Environmental Protection and Mining Inspection Body in its statement issued on November 17,” Lydian Armenia said in statement.

“It should be recalled that on November 10, a video posted online claimed that the water source contamination in Kechut had resulted from the construction work underway at Amulsar, even though the source in question is located outside the Amulsar project area. On the same day, representatives of Lydian Armenia’s environmental team and the Jermuk Municipality visited the site. Based on the on-site inspection, it was initially confirmed that there was no connection between the incident and Amulsar. Considering that the Environmental Protection and Mining Inspection Body had launched a parallel investigation, the Company refrained from making comments during this time, awaiting the Inspection Body’s final conclusion regarding the actual cause of the contamination. We also find it necessary to note that no company named “Stroymontaj” is involved in the construction work at Amulsar,” Lydian Armenia said.

The inspection agency had earlier stated that the contamination of the water source occurred as a result of construction carried out by Stroymontaj LLC. A clay-sand mixture entered the water source due to land excavation work carried out for the installation of a power transmission line, it said.