In September of this year the Australian firm Tamaya Resources Ltd. announced a halt to its gold mining plans in Meghri.

In the company’s semi-annual report this move was attributed to higher than expected amortization costs and insufficient gold reserves. In reality, however, Tamaya Resources hasn’t merely temporarily halted its operations in Meghri but has ceased functioning all together and is looking to get out of Armenia as soon as possible.

A license to operate the Meghri Lichkvaz and Terterasar gold mines was granted to the Armenian company “Sipan-1” back in 1999. The company built a gold extraction plant and operated the mines for a period of four years. In 2005 “Sipan-1” was purchased by the Australian firm “Iberian Resources”. Later on, 86% of Iberia’s outstanding shares were purchased by yet another Australian firm, “Tamaya Resources”.

Within a short time Tamaya invested million of dollars in Armenia and promised to increase the total amount of its investments in the country to $65 million. The number of workers at the mine increased five-fold, surpassing 400. It was expected that this number would at least double. Where the previous owners had only been producing ore concentrate the Australians started to produce gold; approximately 10 kilos per month. Tamaya Resources even so far as to state that by 2009 they’d be producing this amount on a daily basis. These promises did not pan out.

At the same time Tamaya purchased the bulk of Iberia’s shares it also obtained mines in Portugal and Morocco. The firm had already been operating a copper mine complex in Chile. According to information we were able to obtain, this is where Tamaya’s troubles first surfaced.

The Australians had planned to plough revenues from Chile into Armenia. For a variety of reasons however, by the end of 2007, the Chilean mine was no longer producing any profit. A large international bank agreed to loan the company the necessary funds but demanded a more objective and detailed picture regarding the gold reserves at Meghri. All the while Tamaya wasn’t able to secure the funds for additional exploratory work.

According to official statistics the Lichkvaz mine has gold reserves of 17 tons and 3 tons at the Terterasar mine. However, the foreign investors had based their formulations on the expectation that the actual reserves would be at least twice these amounts. 

To the south of these two mines lies the Agarak mine and to the north, Kajaran. The entire region is pocketed with mineral deposits and it’s totally logical that the reserves mentioned is just one part of what actually exists. The Australians however, finding themselves in a financial crisis, began to announce lower than expected deposits and decided to halt further investment in Armenia.

According to the website of Tamaya Resources, in July of 2007, Mr. Anthony Ehlers was appointed the firm’s Chief Operating Officer for Armenia. Mr. Ehlers is presently in Armenia. We were able to contact Mr. Ehlers on the phone and he expressed a willingness to meet for a short interview. He gave us a time and a place to meet. However when we eventually met up with Mr. Ehlers he refused to answer any questions. “I can’t say anything. I have no such authority. Go talk to someone else, the local representatives.” he quipped while walking away.

The office of Tamaya Resources in Armenia no longer functions. 400 people have been laid off from the firm, including the local representatives. During our brief encounter with Mr. Ehlers he also noted that, “Our operations in Armenia are way down the list of priorities for us.”

There really was no need for the Tamaya official to make such a comment, but it says something about the company’s overall work style. Tamaya has already sold off all that it can in such a short time, starting with a variety of passenger and cargo vehicles. Proceeds of the sell-offs have been ferreted out of Armenia despite the fact that Tamaya’s debts to its suppliers and unpaid salaries to former workers totals some $300,000 – 400,000.

By the way, according to Tamaya’s website the company was placed under the “voluntary administration” of the firm Ernst & Young as of October 28, 2008. The announcement partly reads, “The unprecedented collapse in copper prices in the past 2 months has resulted in copper prices reaching levels where it is not possible for Tamaya to repay debt to lenders and operate in an orderly fashion…”

Hetq sources state that Mr. Anthony Ehlers is currently engaged in negotiating the sale of Tamaya’s Armenian assets to potential local buyers.