BISHKEK: Ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday raised the pressure in a fight over revenues from a foreign-owned gold mine, the Central Asian country's largest private sector employer and taxpayer.
President Almazbek Atambayev on Tuesday ordered the state prosecutor to investigate two agreements which established the ownership structure of the Kumtor gold mine, which is controlled by Canadian firm Centerra Gold.
The Kyrgyz government owns a third of company and has been locked in a dispute with the Toronto-based firm over the revenues the impoverished nation receives from the mine.
"People need to know why Kumtor, which was to become the pride of Kyrgyzstan and the largest investment project, is in fact perceived by the people as 'the biggest scam'," Atambayev said in comments published on the presidential websiste.
Operations at the mine account for up to 10 percent of the GDP of a country that borders China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan says it deserves greater revenues from the mine located in the east of the mountainous country.
A lawmaker's proposal to nationalise the mine was voted down by the parliament in 2012.
The company is yet to receive a new license from the government required to operate the mine beyond a looming June 30 deadline.
In May Centerra Gold gave Kyrgyzstan notice of the beginning of international arbitration proceedings after a local court slapped the company with environmental fines worth roughly $100 million.
Citing the general agreement of 2009, Centerra disputed the jurisdiction of the local court to rule over disputes between the pair.
Centerra's local affiliate the Kumtor Gold Company claims that some 97 percent of its over 2,900 employees are Kyrgyz citizens.
Last week a key trade union said local workers at the mine and their families would begin protests if delays over the permit resulted in a stop work order at the mine.
Kyrgyzstan has been badly hit by the economic crisis in Russia, where up to a million Kyrgyz work as labour migrants, as well as a general shortfall in foreign investment.
This month the national statistics committee released data showing the economy had contracted 4 percent in the first five months of 2016 compared to the same period last year amid weaker production at the mine.
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