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Kyrgyzstan to seize Canadian gold mine Agence France-Presse
BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) in favor of a plan to seize the country’s largest gold mine after the Canada-based operator said it was taking the government to an international court.
The poor, mountainous country in ex-Soviet Central Asia has few natural resources and regularly accuses Centerra Gold of shortchanging it over the giant Kumtor gold mine.
Centerra Gold is a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company of which Kyrgyzstan owns more than a quarter. The high-altitude mine accounted for 12.5 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s economy last year.
But struggles over the facility entered uncharted territory this month when President Sadyr Japarov signed a law allowing the government to temporarily take over operations to remedy what he said were environmental and safety violations.
Kyrgyzstan’s president has signed a law that allows the government to seize control of its largest gold mine if the facility’s Canadian operator is found to have violated environmental standards.
The move on Friday comes as authorities ratchet up pressure on Centerra Gold, the Canada-headquartered miner that controls the Kumtor gold mine by claiming the company has committed environmental and tax violations worth more than $4bn.
Kumtor, a mine situated in the east of the country at more than 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) above sea level, accounts for up to 10 percent of the threadbare national economy.
Britain and Canada on Friday issued a joint statement warning of “far-reaching implications for foreign direct investment in Kyrgyzstan” over the passage of the law and the potential nationalisation of the mine.