Lydian International Ltd says preparations at Amulsar are proceeding according to plan

Company said the approval process for the amending Mining Right, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and other documents that required alignment with the company’s value engineering is proceeding according to plan.

Lydian International Ltd has been cracking on with preparation work at Amulsar and still expects to start building at the gold project this summer.

The company’s first quarter results included a potted history of the company’s many achievements so far this year.

The company said the approval process for the amending Mining Right, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and other documents that required alignment with the company’s value engineering is proceeding according to plan.

In April, the EIA was approved by the Ministry of Nature Protection and the Amulsar mine design Technical Safety Program was approved by Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. The application has now reverted to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources for final review and approval of the Mining Right.

In similar vein, amendments to the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) are being made to align this document with the value engineering. Management expects to complete the amended ESIA draft and initiate the required disclosure and public consultation before the end of June.

Land acquisition for private land parcels within the footprint of the heap leach facility and other plant facilities (Phases 1 and 2) is all but complete, with Lydian estimating that only 2% of this process remains to be done.

Activities to acquire additional land parcels along the overland conveyor corridor and mine access roads (Phases 3 and 4) have started, while management has commenced the process to convert acquired lands from their present designation for agricultural use to industrial use.

Planning was completed for a drilling program to be carried out at Amulsar this summer. The objectives of the program will be to target conversion of inferred mineral resources within the currently designed pit boundaries and increase drill density for mine planning purposes.

Basic engineering packages have been formulated and quoted; awards will be made before the end of June.

Before the champagne corks start popping and construction starts this summer, management will focus on a number of pre-construction activities, such as temporary facilities, infrastructure, and site access. Pre-construction activities to relocate an irrigation pipeline from the heap leach facility started in April, Lydian said.

While the company is still some way from entering the revenue generating stage, things are clearly moving on apace. Nonetheless, as might be expected, the company made a loss in the first quarter, of C$1.5mln, versus a loss of C$1.8mln in the first quarter of 2015.

Cash used in operations was C$1.2 million, which was used primarily for corporate expense. Cash used in investing activities was $1.7 million. These expenditures were for exploration and evaluation costs at Amulsar as the company makes the transition to project planning activities directed at initiating project development.

Cash used in financing activities was $0.6 million, primarily related to expenditures associated with arranging the Amulsar project financing.

The company finished March with a healthy cash balance of C$25mln.

Source: Proactive investors