Share certificate of the French Akhtala Mining Company

The image shows a French document: a founder’s share of the Compagnie Française des Mines d’Akhtala, No. 3313, Paris, 30 July 1887. At the top is an engraving of walled buildings and a domed structure on a hill, framed by an ornamental border.

In 1887 France acquired the Akhtala non-ferrous metal deposit in Lori and founded this joint-stock company. The copper was mined mainly by local Armenians and Greeks and was exported almost entirely to France. According to one hypothesis, the copper of the Statue of Liberty may also have come from Akhtala.