EcoLur
On October 3 the Caucasus Armenia is organizing a round table on Amulsar open pit mining project and the construction of a heap leach facility in the frames of “Local Action Plan on Nature Protection in Jermuk Town” program. In reply to the invitation for participation, 'Jermuk Development Center' NGO expressed its concerns and announced about its refusal to take part in the discussion, as 'Geoteam' Company uses this event for building its won reputation.
'Dear REC Caucasus Staff
During the discussions you exclude the possibility of the negative impact of the mining in the program conditioned by the fact that the mine is currently not being developed. Even during the geoprospecting the information about probable mining affected on the inflow of tourism, as well as on the extent of large investments into tourism. Particularly, the discussions on establishing 'Jermuk' National Park were stopped, while now the borders of the national park to be established with the financial support of Geoteam Company won't naturally include Amulsar, where the migration corridor of the moufflons is located under WWF Armenia.
The project developed by the Swiss ' Tiger Dev Swiss ' Consultation Company already doesn't have theoretical bases for implementation, as the investors can't help taking into consideration the adversary impact of the mining on their business interests in a resort town from the viewpoint of marketing.
The series of the meetings and discussions since 2012 have left the risky questions still unreplied, as the company has proceeded to large-scale discussions from specialized discussions using the leverages of the US and UK Embassies and currently Geoteam focuses more on PR campaigns and spends significant funds on the implementation of social programs and their coverage.
We would like to express our concerns that the discussions you organized will be used by Geoteam to build and increase its own good will.
Taking into consideration the aforementioned, Jermuk Development Center NGO refuses to take part in the discussions.
I would also like to know whether such meetings are planned with 'Jermuk Group' CJSC, Hyat Jermnuk resort complex and Jermuk Resort and other large resort complexes?
Regards
Vazgen Galstyan, Co-Chairman of ' Jermuk Development Center ' NGO .
October 29, 2014 at 17:13