Nazaril Terlyga of IRG is the new champion of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and conducted a talk at the Monday session of Mines & Money Hong Kong 2015.  Mr Terlyga was certainly not going to rush himself but patience rewards us eventually as he explains that: ‘What is absolutely key for a new company coming into the country is the establishment of a comprehensive CSR programme, including detailed community negotiation structures put in place’.  The Kyrgyzstan government apparently takes the view that; ‘They must see that CSR structures are in place before progressing with any support towards a companies progress.”

Reforms to the mining code have focused heavily on ‘people’, the creation of jobs and social contributions seem to be the new foundation blocks of the Kyrgyz approach to licensing.  

Mr Terlyga finished off the ‘Come to Kyrgyzstan’ presentation with favorable power comparisons to, of all places, Russia, Bulgaria and Germany. Just to prove you can take the boy our of the USSR but you cant take the USSR out of… The creation of a mining code with social contribution at its foundation is of course to be lauded, but license risk in Kyrgyzstan is seen as very high. Issues surrounding assets such as Jerooy, currently going through a new auction process, loom in the collective investor conscience. If investors and companies can be persuaded to buy into the stability of a new Kyrgyzstan license regime, with a social conscience, that is excellent. However very few commentators believe that the reattributing of Kyrgyzstan assets over the years by successive governments has anything to do with making a better world for the general populace.