Wagner Group linked to $2.5 billion in illicit gold trading — report
Globally, artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for about 20% of annual gold production.
Radio Free Europe reports an increase in world prices for base metals has made a 60-year old German-owned mining company the largest corporate taxpayer in Armenia.
Data from the positively Soviet-sound State Revenue Committee released on Tuesday show the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine paying more than 15 billion drams ($41 million) in various taxes and duties in the first half of this year, compared to just 5.5 billion drams the same period last year.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty quotes Samvel Avagian, an independent economist: “Tax revenues are definitely growing faster than the economy, but it would be premature to conclude that the economic situation has improved considerably.”