Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister resigns: Kyrgyzstan’s Prime Minister Joomart Otorbayev resigned on Thursday after failing to clinch a deal with Canada’s Centerra Gold on the future of the country’s biggest gold mine. Centerra has been in talks with Kyrgyzstan for more than a year on a deal that would involve the former Soviet republic swapping its 32.7%stake in Centerra for half of a joint venture that would control the gold deposit.
Otorbayev, who this month withdrew his backing for the joint venture, resigned after several hours of heated debate in parliament over the government’s performance last year. Many deputies attacked it for failing to reach a new deal with Centerra.
Kumtor, located in a permafrost area in the Tien Shan mountains near the Chinese border, is Central Asia’s largest gold field, and Centerra Gold’s core asset. It accounted for 7.4% of Kyrgyz gross domestic product and 15.5% of industrial output in 2014.
Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister resigns over failed gold mine deal
Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Joomart Otorbayev