In the government of Kyrgyzstan’s relations with the mining industry, appetite comes with eating. In May 2021, the authorities moved to finally put an end to a decades-long saga of legal tussling with Canada-based investors by simply seizing the Kumtor gold mine that they were developing. Officials said at the time that the takeover would only be temporary; that Kumtor, which has at times in its history accounted for more than one-tenth of the country’s economy, was being placed under a temporary period of state stewardship. But the…
