Canada's Centerra Gold said on Monday it would consider taking Kyrgyzstan to arbitration if the company cannot reach an agreement with the government, a potential escalation of a bitter row over the country's largest gold mine. The Toronto-listed firm is under pressure from the Kyrgyz parliament, which demands the state hold 67 percent in a proposed joint venture to run the Kumtor mine, a major foreign-currency earner for the Central Asian nation of 5.5 million.Negotiations have taken place against a backdrop of riots and opposition calls to nationalise Kumtor, which accounted for 12 percent of Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product in 2011.Centerra is actively working with the Kyrgyz government to reach an agreement, but would seek arbitration were talks to fail, Chief Executive Ian Atkinson told Reuters during a visit to Moscow."Under our 2009 agreements we do have the right to go through arbitration. The government's well aware of that and been advised of it not just by ourselves but also by their own legal advisers," said Atkinson, who is flying to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek this week to continue talks.
Centerra Gold Inc. (Centerra) is a gold mining company. Shares of CG fell by 1.77% or $-0.07/share to $3.88. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $2.82 and as high as $10.42. On average, 654611 shares of CG.TO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 290720.
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