South African miner Gold Fields will proceed with a drilling programme at its Kyrgyz joint venture next month, convinced of local community support despite a violent weekend attack on its exploration camp in the Central Asian state. Talas Copper Gold, a joint venture between Gold Fields and Britain's Orsu Metals , could invest $25 million in the three years from 2012 exploring in a mountainous corner of Kyrgyzstan, the company's head told Reuters.
"We're still planning to drill in November," David Grant, chairman of the management board, said in a telephone interview late on Tuesday. "But we have to reorganise how we support the operation, as we can't use the current exploration base." A mob on horseback armed with sticks and petrol bombs attacked Talas Copper Gold's exploration camp in the early hours of Saturday, setting fire to buildings and severely beating the security manager as he fled.
The attack is the second on Talas Copper Gold's operations this year and the latest in a series of assaults on mining company officials in Kyrgyzstan, which have heightened investor concerns as the country prepares to elect its next president. Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of 5.5 million people, holds an election on October 30 that is widely seen as the final stage of constitutional reforms set in motion after the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010. Rejecting nearly two decades of failed authoritarian rule, the country is attempting to create the first parliamentary democracy in Central Asia, a mineral-rich and strategic region otherwise governed by presidential strongmen.
The pro-business coalition government led by Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev, now running for the presidency, has promised to weed out corruption in the mining sector to secure the proceeds from many untapped metal deposits. But progress has been slow. Australia's Kentor Gold has said supporters of its Andash copper and gold development have been threatened, while employees of a Chinese-owned miner were beaten in August at a separate development. Grant said that Kyrgyzstan's success in developing a viable mining sector would depend on the government's ability to rid the industry of corruption.
"We're not here to buy and sell licences. We're here to explore and to mine," he said. "If the government can provide security and stability, it provides the government with a very good avenue for promoting investment in the country." He added: "It's possible to operate, but you have to operate transparently and accountably, address concerns about the environment and trust and not be corrupt. Those companies are the future."
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