InternationalTeghut open-pit mining project to proceed
Promises of jobs and tax revenues trump environmental concerns
Published: Friday August 15, 2008 in Armenia
Armenian Reporter / Armenian Reporter. November, when Serge Sargsian, then prime minister, now president, visited Teghut, it became obvious that the environmentalists and small groups of concerned citizens had lost the battle over the exploitation of the copper-molybdenum mine in the large territory of this small village. The environmentalists had warned that the virgin forest of the region would suffer irreversible damage and Armenia would lose another part of its natural habitat; a unique ecosystem of animals and vegetation would vanish, leaving behind a dead zone, dangerous for people to live in.
Armenia's top officials and the management of the Armenian Copper Program, which received a license to exploit the mine for 25 years, are more optimistic.
"Teghut is one of Armenia's largest economic programs," Mr. Sargsian said here on November 3. "As a result of the exploitation of the mine, Armenia's GDP will increase by 1 to 1.5 percent." He said the project would create 2,000 jobs, which would solve the unemployment problem in the north of the republic.
As for the environmental consequences, the officials and managers say concerns are exaggerated.
On May 27, a 12-year loan contract was signed between the Russian VTB bank and the Teghut closed joint stock company in Yerevan. According to the contract, the bank will allocate about $250 million for the exploitation of the copper-molybdenum mine. After signing the contract, Valeri Mejlumian, the president of Vallex Group (the Armenian Copper Program, Teghut CJSC, and a number of other companies in the mining industry are part of this group), said that preparatory construction as well as planned small-scale logging will continue in the territory of the mine. In six years, he said, production will commence.
For the exploitation of the Teghut mine, 357 hectares of forest must be logged. Environmentalists say that as a result of the exploitation, about 171,000 trees will be logged including exceptional walnut, oak, and wild apple and pear trees.
"The government has made the decision mainly based on the false and insufficient information presented in the project. In other words, either they have lied to the government and have not presented the true picture, or there are people in the government who are trying to implement this crime," said Hakob Sanasarian, the President of the Green's Union.
Mr. Sargsian agrees that the exploitation of Teghut will damage nature, "The exploitation of any mine impacts on the surrounding environment, but the company has promised to minimize the negative impact of the exploitation and we, as the government, are going to supervise that process," he said.
Alaverdi and Drmbon
Environmentalists claim that the Vallex Group has failed to carry out contractual obligations in another project, in the city of Alaverdi, also in the northern Lori province. The emissions of hazardous materials of a copper foundry belonging to this company exceed the permitted norms. According to official data, 27,000 tons of sulfuric anhydrates were released in 2006 into the environment of Alaverdi; the annual legal limit is about 1,200 tons. The Vallex Group has not been held responsible for these excess emissions even though it took on the obligation of fitting appropriate filters in the foundry back in 1998.
The company's response is that if it were to uphold environmental norms, the Alaverdi factory would work at a loss, be shut down, and about 600 people would lose their jobs. The management also points out the example of Drmbon, which has a good environmental record. For the past few years the Base Metals company has been exploiting this mine in the Martakert region of Karabakh, ensuring more than a thousand jobs in the unrecognized republic and paying large sums of money into the budget. Drmbon is not an open pit mine like Teghut is meant to be.
Haroutoun Meliksetian, head of the Teghut village, also has some concerns. However, he believes neither the predictions of the environmentalists, nor the reassurances of the Vallex Group unconditionally. Mr. Meliksetian has personally gone and studied the example of Drmbon. He calls on environmentalists to continue keeping an eye on the company and to ensure that it carries out its contractual obligations, as enthusiastically as they have organized actions aimed at hindering the exploitation of Teghut to date.
"The largest danger is the tailings dam. If the tailings dam is as safe and reliable as in Drmbon, then the rest of the environmental damages can be compensated for," said the head of the village.
Tree planting
Ashot Yegorian, head of the Teghut region's technical service of the Armenian Copper Program, said that the company is prepared to plant 12,000 trees in another location to replace the part of the forest to be cut. He said the company would continue tree planting in the upcoming years.
"As for the tailings dam, a three-level dam will be constructed, and not a single drop of it will enter the Debed River," he stated.
However, environmentalists offer different interpretations. Arman Vermishian, president of the nongovernmental organization Burg noted that the tailings dam would have a volume of 174 million cubic meters. He compared it with Yerevan Lake, the volume of which is only 5 million cubic meters.
"It is a huge tailings dam," he said. "What can I say? It is a chemical bomb, where large quantities of toxic substances will be collected. Huge changes are going to take place in the ecosystem; the bed of a rivulet must be changed and diverted using pipes. However, that is only a temporary solution. In 50 years the pipes will wear out and the river will return to its previous course. Since the course of the river runs through the tailings dam, all toxic materials will pour into the Debed River. A four-degree pump station functions on the Debed; it irrigates thousands of hectares of orchards in the Noyemberian region," Mr. Vermishian stated.
