Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will provide a five-year loan to Sagamar for a total of US $11 million to implement an investment programme, which envision the production of copper and zinc concentrate with controlled silver and gold content at the Armanis deposit of polymetallic ores, according to EDB’s official website.
The respective loan agreement was signed in the town of Stepanavan by Gennady Zhuzhlev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board at EDB, and Dmitry Ushkov, General Director of Sagamar.
The loan will be used to finance stripping and geologic exploration, purchase mining equipment and, partially, refinance current loans. The overall project value approximates US $70 million.
“Until now, our operations in Armenia were limited to the provision of targeted loans to our Armenian partner banks in the framework of EDB’s SME financing programmes. The deal with Sagamar is EDB’s first investment project in Armenia,” says Gennady Zhuzhlev. “The project will help to advance the export potential of the country, which will, in its turn, promote sustainable economic growth in Armenia. The project is expected to create over 350 jobs at the deposit and in related sectors.”
The Armanis deposit was the first Armenian mine to introduce a more environmentally safe technology of the dry stacking of tailings with water recycling.
The Armanis gold and polymetallic deposit is a polymetallic formation with high gold and silver content. Geologically the deposit belongs to Group 3 deposits with complex ore bodies, which have very different widths and composition, and an uneven distribution of main commercial components. The deposit has been in operation since 2008.
The Sagamar Processing Plant at Armanis is a new plant running on Chinese, German and English equipment, which was commissioned in November 2011 to process polymetallic ores. At present up to 550,000 tonnes of ores are processed annually. The plant’s infrastructure can process up to 800,000 tonnes and its capacity can be expanded with additional equipment.
