The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York granted the motion of the subsidiaries of Centerra Gold Inc. Kumtor Gold Company (KGC) and Kumtor Operating Company (KOC) on the return of goods to vendors with providing full credit for them. Stretto website says.
As noted, supplies of materials, including parts for large Caterpillar dump trucks, were ordered by Centerra’s subsidiary even before the illegal takeover of the mine by the Kyrgyz authorities.
Daniel Desjardins, Director of KGC and Chief Operating Officer of Centerra, told the court that during the expropriation of the Kumtor mine in May 2021, some goods had already been delivered or were on their way to warehouses. Due to the illegal takeover of the mine, many warehousemen and freight forwarders have refused to deliver such goods in their possession to the individuals who purport to be acting—without authority—on behalf of the KGC in the Kyrgyz Republic.
As the Chief Operating Officer of Centerra noted, over three months have elapsed since the expropriation of the Kumtor mine, and at this time, the return of the Kumtor mine to Centerra Gold Inc. control is not imminent.
Judge Lisa Beckerman granted the motion from the lawyers of Centerra’s subsidiaries on return the goods to their vendors with providing full credit for the goods, since KGC no longer controls the mine and does not receive any proceeds from the sale of gold.
It was reported earlier that the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has suspended Kyrgyzaltyn JSC from the LBMA Good Delivery List for failing to meet the requirements of the Responsible Sourcing Programme.
The LBMA has stated in June that the 11-step Incident Review Process has been invoked for Kyrgyzaltyn in response to «issues concerning delivery and the potential for fraud».
The loss of accreditation will restrict Kyrgyzaltyn’s access to the mainstream market, because major banks that dominate precious metals trading tend to handle only metal from refineries on the LBMA’s Good Delivery list.
