People out-migrate in search of jobs, as the Amulsar project remains closed

Because the roads to the Amulsar project continue to be illegally blocked, Lydian Armenia and its contractors had to lay off over 1300 of their employees over the last 6 months. Approximately 460 of these employees were from the Amulsar’s surrounding communities. Lydian continues to monitor the social impacts as part of the Company’s commitment to support local communities. The monitoring data includes the statistics for migration. Data has been collected by our social team members, based on the information provided by the municipalities as well as other sources, including employment centers and Village Council.

According to this data, since the illegal blockage of the roads to the Amulsar project, the out-migration has increased in these communities compared to 2017. There was no registered permanent out-migration in Gndevaz, Gorayk or Saravan during 2017 when construction at Amulsar was in progress. However, by the end of 2018, 6 people migrated permanently from Gndevaz and 12 people from Saravan. At the end of 2017, 34 people had out-migrated permanently from Jermuk. At the end of 2018, this figure almost doubled to 64 people.

Seasonal out-migration increased in all four communities since the suspension of construction activities at Amulsar.
According to the data collected from Jermuk, seasonal out-migration in 2017 totaled to 80 people, while in 2018, 219 people temporarily out-migrated from Jermuk in search of jobs.

Moreover, in the first half of 2018, before the roads to Amulsar were blocked, an influx of people to communities was noted, confirmed by community municipalities and residents: for example, 70 persons moved to Jermuk, 8 to Gorayk, 5 to Gndevaz.

The negative impacts of the illegal blockades of Amulsar roads resulted in several hundred direct job losses at Amulsar and also affected indirect job creation in these communities. Throughout 2017, Lydian contractors alone spent on average 200,000 USD monthly on local procurement, purchasing goods and services: food, transportation, fuel, accommodation, etc. This continuous financial inflow created a lot of new opportunities for local businesses to grow, expand and create jobs. These opportunities have been lost following the illegal halt of the Amulsar project since June 2018.