Regnum News Agency
On 18 April the Nature Protection Ministry of Armenia held the open discussion in regard with the implementation of the project on Amoulsar gold mine development, which is located 10 kilometres away from Jermuk resort town.
Tin his closing speech Nature Protection Minister of Armenia Aram Harutyunyan stated that he supports the mine development, nevertheless, there are still issues raising concerns which should have precise answers so as ‘not to generate doubts for anybody.’
In this regard the Minister demanded from “Geoteam” Company to submit the comprehensive concept and mine development programs, which will include answers concerning the term and the location of combine construction and ecological problems.”
In his opinion, the viewpoint of the State Committee on Lake Sevan Issues and Jermuk Town should also be taken into consideration.
From editorial staff: Yerevan Bureau of Regnum News Agency has the feeling from these discussions that Yerevan Nature Protection Ministry of Armenia is playing cat and mouse with “Geoteam Company”. The matter is that the Minister "asks" or "requires" complete data about the project not in the course of public hearings, but in working procedure. The opposite witnesses only about the faked “discussions,” as while developing such wide-scale projects to be submitted to the governmental agency, the program must contain information about such specific components, as the location of the combine or that of the tailing dump, as well as detailed environmental or human impact assessment of the mine development. In this regard, this discussion is another farce with the participation of all “stakeholders” not promoting the solution to concrete problems in any way. The company’s main shareholders are as follows: International Finance Corporation, a member of WB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and “Newmont” mining corporation (under certain information, this company protects the interests of Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
April 20, 2012 at 16:24