{"id":300974,"date":"2020-05-04T23:41:19","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T19:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epress.am\/?p=300974"},"modified":"2020-05-28T17:32:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T13:32:00","slug":"armenia-under-pressure-from-uk-and-us-over-mining-dispute-eu-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2020\/05\/04\/armenia-under-pressure-from-uk-and-us-over-mining-dispute-eu-report-says.html","title":{"rendered":"Armenia \u2018under pressure\u2019 from UK and US over mining dispute, EU report says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Thomas Rowley <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i>An internal EU report states that the UK government has pressured the Armenian government in a two-year standoff between protesters, an international mining company and the authorities.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">In the aftermath of Armenia\u2019s 2018 \u201cVelvet Revolution\u201d, local residents and activists started a blockade of a $400m international gold mine in the country &#8211; run by a mining company registered in Jersey <\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Amid the ongoing crisis, mining company Lydian International has threatened the Armenian government with international arbitration over the blockaded Amulsar project &#8211; which the UK has strongly supported <\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Following openDemocracy reporting, a British MP criticised the UK Foreign Office over why \u2018it would take such a political risk\u2019 in backing the mine <\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">An internal report released under EU Access to Documents states that the UK and US have pressured Armenia over a controversial gold mining project in the country, openDemocracy reports today. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The Amulsar gold mine shot to the <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/en\/odr\/citizens-battling-a-controversial-gold-mining-project-amulsar-armenia\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">forefront of Armenian politics<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> after the country underwent its \u201cVelvet Revolution\u201d in 2018, when public protests forced the ruling Republican Party out of power. In the aftermath local residents and environmental activists began a blockade of the unfinished $400m mining project, bringing them into conflict with British-American mining company Lydian International, the company\u2019s international supporters and the Armenian government. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter to us who wants to exploit the mine. There will be no mining industry in Jermuk,\u201d local activist Shirak Buniatyan recently <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/hraparak.am\/post\/4ef30369ad773823a38e988a184a32e1\">told<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> the newspaper Hraparak. \u201cThose who try to open a mine here will waste their money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">As a result of the nearly two-year blockade, Lydian has been unable to access the Amulsar site and finish construction on the project, which is backed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), resource investment funds as well as the UK and US governments. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Lydian calls the mine blockade illegal, and accuses the Armenian government of \u2018inaction\u2019 over the situation. In March 2019, the company notified Armenia of a potential international arbitration dispute under British and Canadian bilateral investment treaties. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">An internal note, dated October 2019, by the European Union Delegation to Armenia states that prime minister Nikol Pashinyan \u2018has come under enormous pressure related to the future\u2019 of the Amulsar gold project, including from the UK and US. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u2018The US and UK governments,\u2019 the report continues, \u2018hope Lydian would not be discriminated [against] and a similar approach towards other mining companies operating in Armenia would be applied.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The partially redacted report was obtained from the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU\u2019s diplomatic service, which noted that the \u2018full public release of the whole document would reveal assessments concerning aspects and impact of this project by the EU Delegation in Yerevan intended for internal use only\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThis report confirms the suspicions held by many that the UK is acting on behalf of a company seeking to open a dangerous gold mine,\u201d said Jean Blaylock, campaign and policy manager at Global Justice Now. \u201cAnd more, a company that is using \u2018corporate courts\u2019 to try and bully the Armenian government into shutting down public protests against the mine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Lydian, which is registered in Jersey and headquartered in Canada, states it has followed the highest international standards on environmental mitigation and protection &#8211; as required by the EBRD and the World Bank\u2019s International Finance Corporation, which withdrew from the Amulsar project in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Opponents of the mine, which former British Ambassadors have <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/ecolur.org\/en\/news\/mining\/ambassadors-of-uk-k-and-usa-in-armenia-to-visit-amulsar\/5015\/\">called<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> \u2018potentially the largest British investment in Armenia\u2019 and an \u2018excellent example of UK-Armenia business cooperation\u2019, claim their concerns over potential environmental damage are well-founded. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The document does not disclose the nature of official UK or US pressure on Armenia over the Amulsar gold mine, the largest foreign investment in the country. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cWe do not accept this characterisation of the Embassy\u2019s routine engagement with the Armenian Government on the Amulsar gold mine,\u201d an FCO spokesperson said. \u201cIt is the role of diplomatic missions to talk to host governments on a wide range of issues, including on behalf of businesses. In this case, the British Embassy in Yerevan has discussed the mine with the Government of Armenia, to better understand their approach to the situation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">A US State Department spokesperson said: \u201cWe hope the Armenian Government and Lydian International will continue to work together to discuss all possible options for a mutually agreeable, impartial, and expeditious resolution regarding Amulsar. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cWe wish to see an orderly resolution of this issue in accordance with the law.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">The predictable, transparent, and uniform application of the law to all investors assures stakeholders and provides confidence to existing and potential investors.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The Armenian Foreign Ministry did not respond to request for comment.<b> <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Lydian stated via email that \u2018considering the current situation around the project, we do not give any comments\u2019. <b> <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The EU Delegation report remarks that Armenian prime minister Pashinyan is \u2018having to weigh environmental considerations against the economic benefits of the [Amulsar] project\u2019 in a mining industry which has a \u2018notoriously poor\u2019 environmental protection record. With the mine finished, Lydian says it was set to employ 750 people, create an additional 3,000 jobs via local companies, and contribute $488 million to the Armenian state budget over a ten-year period. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The report notes the tense situation in which the company\u2019s foreign backers, including the UK government, have found themselves in Armenia. The Amulsar standoff is, the document says, \u2018heavily politicised, with opponents (but also some supporters) of the revolutionary Armenian authorities uniting around this issue, albeit pursuing different goals.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u2018The Amulsar issue,\u2019 it continues, \u2018has been one of the key points exploited by the domestic opponents of the Pashinyan Government [&#8230;] These opponents argue that the PM has no regard for protecting the environment and question why the British and Americans should exploit Armenia&#8217;s natural resources.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Official statements by the UK Foreign Office tend to downplay support of Lydian International, which was set to become one of Armenia\u2019s biggest taxpayers prior to the start of the public campaign in 2018. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">When <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/business\/publications\/written-questions-answers-statements\/written-question\/Commons\/2020-02-21\/18469\/\">asked<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> in parliament whether the Foreign Office had made representations to the Armenian government over the Amulsar mine earlier this year, a Foreign Office minister replied: \u201cBritish Embassy Yerevan officials regularly make representations to the Government of Armenia on a range of issues.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Campaigners, including a British MP, have <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/en\/odr\/uk-foreign-office-criticised-over-controversial-gold-mine-armenia-amulsar\/\">criticised<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> the role of the UK Foreign Office in supporting Lydian International in its dispute with the Armenian government. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">In response to a government-ordered environmental audit of the Amulsar project in August 2019, representatives of Armenian civil society <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/transparency.am\/en\/news\/view\/2819\">called<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> on the British and US Embassies, as well as Sweden, to withdraw support for the Amulsar mine, calling the audit \u2018staggering in its implications\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cPerhaps it would be more fair to put [Amulsar] into the context of the United States or Great Britain or Sweden,\u201d the open letter stated. \u201cWould any license to operate an open pit mine, in your backyard, ever be granted on the basis of incomplete, inaccurate and fraudulent ESIA [Environmental and Social Impact Assessment]? We know the answer to this is \u2018no\u2019 and ask that this standard be applied to the citizens and residents of Armenia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Internal correspondence from British Embassy Yerevan obtained by openDemocracy under Freedom of Information <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/en\/odr\/uk-foreign-office-criticised-over-controversial-gold-mine-armenia-amulsar\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">contains<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> redacted emails relating to Embassy meetings with both Lydian International and the Armenian government regarding Amulsar, as well as redacted internal Foreign Office correspondence on the situation surrounding the mine. A list of contacts between the Embassy and Lydian shows regular contact over a five-year period. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">A 2018 list of Embassy documents relating to Amulsar contains titles such as \u201cPossible meeting with Armenian PM &#8211; urgent advice requested\u201d, \u201cQuestions for the Ambassador\u201d, \u201cMeeting with Acting PM Pashinyan key points\u201d and \u201cReadout of meeting with Lydian\u201d. Embassy correspondence relating to the Amulsar project also includes redacted correspondence about a EU Heads of Mission meeting with prime minister Pashinyan in November 2018. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Prime minister Pashinyan initially ordered inspections in Armenia\u2019s mining industry after taking the post in 2018, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.civilnet.am\/news\/2018\/07\/16\/Q-A-with-Prime-Minister-Pashinyan\/341540\">saying<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> that he would have opposed the Amulsar project if he had been in power during the approval process. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Following the publication of a government-ordered audit in August 2019, Pashinyan, an opposition politician who led mass protests against Armenia\u2019s former regime, began <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/us-armenia-mine-protests\/armenian-pm-urges-gold-mine-protesters-to-lift-blockade-idUKKBN1ZO0JP\">calling<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> on protesters to end the mine blockade. He stated that there was no legal basis to oppose Amulsar, and that the mine should reopen. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Lydian International <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lydianinternational.co.uk\/news\/2019-news\/475-\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">states<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span> that there was no basis for the government-ordered independent audit in Armenian law, and that the company has succeeded in \u2018meeting or exceeding rigorous and leading global standards of environmental stewardship and sustainability\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThe Prime Minister is in a very difficult situation, I believe,\u201d said Sona Ayvazyan, executive director of Transparency International Armenia. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cHe has his own values, such as democracy and care for the environment, his promises that the voices of Armenian citizens matter and that they are the masters of their own lives, that his government is different from the previous corrupt regime, etc. But Pashinyan faces strong public pressure and boosted expectations of people who supported the 2018 revolution, and meanwhile his actions are not in line with his values and promises.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cApparently, he has been under significant pressure from the international community and, more specifically, the UK and US Embassies, risking to affect future foreign investments in the country. Obviously, it has been very hard for the Prime Minister to make a decision in this situation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">A US State Department spokesperson said: \u201cThe United States supports economic development of well-regulated extractive industries. In our own experience, responsible development is the best means to create jobs and contribute to sustainable economic growth that can lift populations out of poverty and protect natural resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">In December 2019, Lydian filed for a court-protected restructuring process in Canada. Court filings for the company, which was delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange in January this year, state that it is currently \u2018advancing discussions with a potential purchaser\u2019 for the mine, and continuing dialogue with the Armenian government \u2018to see whether an agreement can be reached regarding access to the Amulsar Project\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cThere seems to be no good reason for UK diplomats to throw their weight behind a mining company with main offices variously in Colorado, Canada and Armenia, a company registration in a Channel Island tax haven, and a recent letterbox registration in a building in London where no one from the company actually works,\u201d said Jean Blaylock from Global Justice Now. \u201cIt appears Lydian doesn\u2019t even have a bank account in the UK.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><i>This article was produced with the support of <\/i><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span lang=\"zxx\"><u><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.journalismfund.eu\/\"><i>Journalismfund.eu<\/i><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span><i><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">.<\/span> <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">END<\/span><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;These opponents argue that the PM has no regard for protecting the environment and question why the British and Americans should exploit Armenia&#8217;s natural resources.\u2019<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10,65991,66047],"tags":[71693,65048,78338],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}