BISHKEK, October 23 (RIA Novosti) – Kyrgyzstan's lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected Wednesday a new deal to settle Bishkek’s long-standing dispute with the Canadian operator of the country’s biggest goldmine.
The Kumtor mine, one of the largest in Central Asia, has for the past year been at the center of a tussle between Toronto-listed Centerra Gold and Kyrgyzstan, which has fought to boost its control over the project.
Just two of 120 lawmakers voted in favor of a memorandum of understanding with Centerra, reached in September, under which Bishkek would swap its 32.7 percent stake in Centerra for a 50 percent interest in a joint venture. Under the agreement, the Canadian firm would remain the operator and manager of the mine, and would also receive $100 million, Centerra said last month.
Kyrgyzstan’s Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev asked the parliament for another six months to continue talks with the Canadian company.
“You have rejected the memorandum and we need to launch new negotiations. We need to be given a fair term, I’m asking for six months. The government cannot in the short term solve the problems which arose 20 years ago,” Satybaldiyev told the lawmakers.
The parliamentary debate follows protests in Kyrgyzstan’s northern Issyk-Kul Province demanding the nationalization of Kumtor, which holds estimated deposits of at least 700 tons of gold and accounts for some 12 percent of the country's GDP.
The Kyrgyz opposition, however, insists that the government’s stake in the mine should be no less than 70 percent.
During the debate, the parliament’s largest opposition faction, Ata-Zhurt (Fatherland) demanded that the government unilaterally renounce all agreements with the Canadian investors within a week.
Other factions set a December deadline for the cabinet to revise the conditions of the memorandum to increase Kyrgyzstan’s share in Kumtor.
Some 800 protesters gathered in the north of the country Wednesday to demand the nationalization of the mine, local media reports said.
