Be careful where you own your gold mine. For me it will soon be Mexico, Canada, USA:
Agarwal to lose major Armenian gold project?
By: John Helmer
Posted: '16-NOV-05 12:00' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2004
MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) -- Anil Agarwal, the controlling shareholder of London-based Vedanta Resources and Toronto-listed junior miner Sterlite Gold, is likely to lose a major goldmine project in Armenia -- Sterlite's only working asset. Agarwal's conflict with the Armenian government has already hurt the share price of Sterlite, and puts into international play one of the potentially richest of gold deposits in the Caucasus.
According to sources in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, an investigation by an Armenian government commission reported this week on a series of problems with Sterlite's management of the Zod mine. These include allegations that the Indian-managed mining company has uncovered fresh reserves, as well as producing gold that it did not reveal to the Armenian government.
Zod, located in the eastern corner of Armenia, close to the Azerbaijan border, has been evaluated over more than a decade by Soviet geologists, Kilborn-SNC, SRK, Snowden, and Micon. First identified in 1976, and prospected when Armenia was part of the USSR, the mine project has also included substantial, high-grade tailings from Soviet-era mining.
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