Amulsar, the largest gold mine in Armenia, moves closer to production

The Amulsar Mine, which will become the largest gold mine in Armenia, has moved one step closer to production.

In a statement, the mine project owners said everything is “proceeding as planned.”

Lydian International, the owner of the gold project, has announced that it has already committed a total of $213mn, which represents 58 percent of the entire capital set aside for the project.

The overall estimated cost for construction of the project has been estimated at close to $370 million.

Construction highlights include:

The design of the mine haul road is complete and the construction contract has been awarded. Caterpillar is ahead of schedule in producing the primary mine mobile equipment, and initial deliveries are expected to commence in late July.

The mining fleet for Amulsar will include, among other things, 19 Caterpillar 789D 180-tonne capacity haul trucks, one Caterpillar 994 front-end-loader, and two Caterpillar 6040 hydraulic shovels. A training simulator has been purchased to train equipment operators.

Construction power and water are in place, access roads are complete, the construction warehouse has been erected, and detailed design and fabrication of the electrical distribution equipment are in process.

Design and fabrication contracts for the crushing and screening plant and the overland conveyor system have been awarded. Fabrication of equipment components is in process, and the first shipment of structural steel for the crushing plant was delivered to site on schedule. Earthworks preparing the crushing and screening plant building platform are in process.

The Amulsar Project, located in southern Armenia, is an open-pit mine with estimated mineral resources of 142.2 million tonnes and a mineral reserve of 2.606 million tonnes of contained gold ounces.

When production underway, Lydian looks set average greater than 200,000 ounces per year.

The Amulsar mine has been earmarked for a 2018 production start.

Lydian is expected to achieve the following significant milestones:

Complete major earthworks for the HLF, mine haul road, and barren rock storage facility;

Complete civils for all components of site infrastructure and equipment;

Erect buildings for the material handling system and the ADR plant;

Fabrication and delivery to site of major components of mechanical and electrical equipment;

Commence installation of mechanical and electrical equipment;

Fabrication, delivery to site, and assembly of the mine mobile fleet;

Finalize biodiversity offset boundaries; and

Hiring and training of staff for mine operations and the processing plant.

Source: miningglobal