BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan has taken over the Kumtor gold mine after the government reached an out-of-court settlement with the Canadian Centerra Gold company.
President Sadyr Japarov announced in a televised statement on April 4 that Kyrgyzstan had taken 100 percent control of the mine.
Centerra made public the agreement, according to which it received all of its common shares held by the state-owned company Kyrgyzaltyn, while Kyrgyzaltyn got a 100 percent stake in the company's two Kyrgyz subsidiaries, Kumtor Gold Company CJSC and Kumtor Operating Company.
Kumtor has been a target of financial and environmental disagreements for years and became the subject of a battle for control between the Central Asian state and Centerra Gold after the government temporarily took control of the mine last year.
Japarov's government insisted that Centerra's operations endangered human lives and the environment, which the company denied.
In May 2021, the Canadian firm said it had "initiated binding arbitration to enforce its rights under long-standing investment agreements with the government."
Many Kyrgyz lawmakers have expressed concern about an alleged lack of transparency at Kumtor since the government took control of the gold mine.