Kyrgyz authorities seize Jerooy

With the development licence for the Jerooy gold deposit in Kyrgyzstan still up in the air, Kyrgyz authorities descended on the property Sept. 7 and seized the buildings on the property.

An official of the Jerooy operating company, Talas Gold Mining, was quoted by wire service reports as sying that the regional government in the Talas area had ordered the seizure. He said the workforce on the site was ordered off the property.

London-listed Oxus Gold (OXUSF-O, OXS-L) owns a 67% interest in Talas Gold, with Kyrgyz state agency Kyrgyzaltyn owning the rest. In late 2005, Kyrgyzaltyn claimed Oxus was in default of scheduling clauses in their development agreement, and the government pulled Oxus’s development licence. Kyrgyzaltyn said in July that it had concluded an agreement with Austrian-based Global Gold to develop the Jerooy deposit.

Also in July, Sean Daley, a British national resident in Kyrgyzstan, was shot and wounded outside his Bishkek house. Daley had been representing Oxus in negotiations over the licence with the Kyrgyz government.