Lragir.am
Vice-Chairman of Vallex Group Gagik Arzumanyan said today that the program on the exploitation of Teghut mine is the first ecological one in the history of independent Armenia which is treated with greatest responsibility. The attention towards the program is determined by its environmental influence which is also unprecedented for Armenia. Nonetheless, we have filtered all the proposals that can be used for the sake of the program and the environment, he said.
Gagik Arzumanyan says that the program saw all the phases of the legislative expertise and public hearings were held. We treat environmental issues with greatest responsibility, he says adding that the Armenian legislation does not provide for tree planting by the company if the latter is authorized to cut tress, while they initiated a governmental decision so they plant trees along with tree cuttings, he said.
As for the protests of environmentalists, Arzumanyan says that this is the only way they can express themselves and there is no other program in which the environmentalists could invest for the sake of the society.
Gagik Arzumanyan also noted that the Teghut mine exploitation can serve an example for other companies because they use modern technologies.
He did not hide that they started paying attention to historical monuments in the result of the protests by environmentalists. “This is the only example in the history of Armenia, when so large-scale archaeological research is underway by the means of the private company”, said Arzumanyan.
Only 10% of Armenia’s environmentalists are qualified experts – Vallex Group President
News.am
Only 10% of Armenia’s environmentalists are competent experts, President of Vallex Group Valeriy Mezhlumyan told the journalists on Friday.
Commenting on environmentalists’ protests against development of Teghut mine, he said constructive criticism of company’s projects is welcomed.
Teghut’s deposit contains Armenia’s second largest copper reserve (1.5 million tons). It also contains around 100 thousand tons molybdenum. Mining works are planned to be started in the area in the end of the 1st quarter of 2012.
The government said a 400-hectare forest will be planted near Teghut’s copper-molybdenum deposit to replace the 180 hectare wood which is going to be cut in order to carry out open-pit mining operations in the area.
Responsible people of Wallex Group give clarifications on Teghut
www.yerkirmedia.am
Responsible people gave clarifications today on the issue of Teghut mine operation. The mine has given rise to a big wave of complaint among a number of NGOs and ecologist activists. According to Deputy Chairman of Wallex Group Gagik Arzumanyan, Teghut CJSC functioning as part of the Wallex Group companies has operated exceptionally according to law.
The company has got the Government’s permission and there was no objection by the Ministry of Nature Protection. Touching upon the coming projects, Arzumanyan stressed, it is planned to enhance the activity both in Armenia and in Artsakh.
“In Armenia there is no law, no legal act, which requires compensation in cases when the Government has authorized deforestation. But we have applied for it at our own initiative and such a requirement was defined by the Government’s decision. According to the decision, parallel to the deforestation, we’ll carry out tree planting works in a volume exceeding the volume of the forests cut twice,” Gagik Arzumanyan said.
According to Wallex Group Chairman Valeri Mejlumyan, the company is the first major tax payer among the workshops functioning in Artsakh. It is planned to have 155, 000 tons of copper concentrate production and 10 mln tons of ore extraction in all the companies by 2015.
“We have one thing new at present: we are going to operate a new workshop, which is unique in terms of production and equipment. It will be a reprocessing plant for the ore accumulated in the past and to be created in future,” Deputy Chairman of Wallex Group companies Artur Mkrtumyan said.
Teghout Copper and Molybdenum Mine to Be Developed in 2014
ArmInfo
“Armenian Copper Programme (ACP)” CJSC Director Gagik Arzoumanyan made a statement at the press conference held on 29 February Teghout copper and molybdenum combine will be developed in 2014.
February 17, 2012 at 16:20