050830 - YEREVAN, Global Gold Corp has bought gold producing plant Tukhmanuk

YEREVAN, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Global Gold Corp has bought gold producing plant Tukhmanuk in central Armenia for $3.5 million from the Armenian company Mego Gold, a company official said on Thursday.
"We have already transferred $1.5 million for a 51 percent stake and will pay off the rest within two years," Ashot Boghossian, the head of the Global Gold office in Armenia, told Reuters.

He said the company had already got a licence for exploration works. It planned
to start works at the Tukhmanuk mining site soon and invest about $2 million there.

Boghossian added that Global Gold planned to operate the plant all year round and boost the plant's output to 500,000-700,000 tonnes of ore annually, up from 200,000 tonnes now. The mine at present is explored only in summer time.
One tonne of ore yields about six grammes of gold at Tukhmanuk mine.
Armenia, like many other gold-rich ex-Soviet states, has attracted foreign investment since the communist collapse in 1991 due to improving economic conditions. ADVERTISEMENT
The Armenian gold-mining unit of Canada's Sterlite Gold , Ararat Gold Recovery Company, runs two mines -- Zod in eastern Armenia, with gold content of 3-3.5 grammes per tonne, and Meghradzor in the north, with gold content of five grammes per tonne.

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