Why Gndevaz Villagers Opposed to Amulsar Project?

EcoLur

Gndevaz villagers’ (Vayots Dzor Region, Armenia) complaint addressed to the IFC CAO about stopping to fund Amulsar open pit mining project and the construction of a heap leach facility in the territory of the village was a surprise. Over 200 villagers put their signatures under the complaint letter.

Reminder: Earlier 9 NGOs and activists addressed such a complaint letter to CAO. EcoLur team visited Gndevaz Village and had meetings with several villagers. Publishing brief notes what we heard from Gndevaz villagers,

“Even earlier we expressed our concerns about Amulsar project risks during the discussions of the project, as we know well what kind of mines are located here, what is mined here and what kind of risks exist. In our mountains, in Amulsar and nearby, there is gold, silver, lead and uranium…Whoever works in mines, knows that….Here is a closed mine, where gold and lead have been mined for many years and then transported to the plant in Masis for processing. Whoever worked at mines, knows how unwell you feel, you can lose your health here. We also worked at Amulsar, the mine is not open yet, but we worked during the geoprospecting…For example, I took part in the geoprospecting in Amulsar for one year, I worked for Geoteam Company. They drilled thousands of wells, and whoever worked there had problems with their health. For example, I had increased blood pressure, felt dizziness… We started worrying. We didn’t have any medical checkups. But we are not thatnaïve…

“We spoke about the risks at the discussions with Geoteam. They didn’t document any negative opinion about Amulsar project in the minutes, so we stopped attending the discussions...

…We are worried that nobody speaks about risks and when we ask questions about risks, we were told everything is OK, there are no risks…They took our village head to America and showed him some enterprises, he came and started telling us how good it was there. But it’s US and it’s another company. Maybe it’s good there, but we have nothing in common…

The villagers, who agreed to the construction of a heap leach facility, are led astray. The facility will be constructed in the territory of apricot orchards. Our apricot is the main source of our income. When the apricot in Ararat Valley finishes, it only starts ripening in our village, and we can sell the harvest with benefit… Have a look, all the apricot trees in Armenia got frozen, but all the buyers now here to buy our apricot at a price on 1000 AMD. The best privilege this area has is water laid several years ago. You can imagine what it means when you don’t have to think about irrigating your orchards. We don’t have such a headache. We can irrigate whenever needed without any problems. But now we have a new problem – a heap leach facility. Nothing will be left from the orchards, if something remains, nobody will buy this fruit. Even now when some people hear this fruit is from Gndevaz, they say it’s where a heap leach facility is located? We can’t dissuade them that the plant hasn’t been constructed yet, that our fruit is…

I don’t have any apricot trees in my land area, but I get income from clover, it’s good forage. The company came and dag a hole in my land area and laid a pipe there. They didn’t explain me why a pipe was laid there… I’m not going to give my land area to the company. They think they can persuade us, but they can’t. Now the largest farm is being constructed in Armenia with 1000 heads… I will sell them the clover and can expand my land areas, I won’t give them to the company…

Some people in the village are sure they will get minimum US $50,000 or 100,000 for their orchards, they will be able to buy flats in Yerevan, and will live in Yerevan or lease their flats. I don’t know how they calculate it, but the company doesn’t dissuade them to get their consents and signatures, so they sign the papers.

Even if they support the project, it doesn’t matter for us, as we are not going to leave the village and we don’t care that somebody wants to get rich at the expense of our health and well-being,’ Gndevaz villagers said.

Geoteam Company has already postponed the construction of a heap leach facility several times. The selected areas of Gorayk Village in Syunik Region turned out to be banned because of being included in the borders of Sevan basin. Now the construction spot is transferred to Gndevaz. But villagers, who used to be quiet, have decided to oppose to the company and to protect their rights. Let’s wait how the CAO office will respond to Gndevaz villagers’ complaint on Amulsar project. The complaint of 9 NGOs and activists has been accepted for consideration and now investigation report in being drawn up.

Follow developments with Amulsar project together with EcoLur.

Photos by Tehmine Yenoqyan

August 04, 2014 at 15:30