Lydian Armenia CJSC technical assurance coordinator Peter Nel told Armenpress that there is one excavator at the site now, along with six trucks. Three more trucks and several support units will be made active soon.

Nel said line-up is sufficient to keep it running for the next three years, adding that regional Caterpillar representative Zeppelin helped compile the units and import them from the US and Germany. The company's managing director noted that Zeppelin’s contract for the equipment was its biggest in history.

Lydian Armenia has also acquired a training simulator for future drivers, Nel told the outlet. In the meantime, it is awaiting fire prevention systems, so that it can operate the vehicles already at the mine.

The miner, which is pushing for a September 2018 quarter start for open-pit Amulsar and is set to make it the country’s largest gold operation, said in an earnings release earlier this month that the specific equipment that arrives in the September quarter included one 6040 hydraulic shovel, one 994 loader and four 789D haul trucks. In the final quarter, it will take delivery of five more 789Ds.

In that same report, officials said that construction of the crushing and screening plant, along with overland conveyor placement, are forthcoming, with its rate of progress to depend on winter weather. Work on the barren rock storage facility is underway, as are construction of the mine haul road and the earthworks for the heap-leach facility.

Amulsar’s estimated mineral resources include 3.5 million measured and indicated gold ounces and 1.3 million ounces inferred; production targets for the initial 10-year mine life are expected to average 225,000 per year.