Odzun Community unites Odzun, Amoj, Aygehat, Ardvi, Artsatsag, Tsater, Karmir Aghek, Hagvi and Mghart villages. The main occupation of the population is agriculture - cattle breeding, cultivation of grain, fodder crops, gardening. The community is famous for its many historical and architectural monuments. Work is underway to build infrastructure in the agricultural processing and procurement sectors.
Mghart gold mine is located in Mghart settlement in Odzun enlarged community. The mine was developed by "Multi Group Concern" LLC. The company rents 40.09 hectares of land in Mghart. The operation of Mghart gold mine has led to chemical pollution in the community.
Odzun Community is being polluted by waste dumps about 1.4 km northwest of the village of Hagvi, as a result of shallow, underground mountain excavations at Hagvi copper mine.
The population of the enlarged community of Odzun, including the representatives of the local self-government, is not sufficiently aware of the risks of mining pollution. Most people are not demanding in terms of eliminating that pollution and reducing the risks. "This waste is very far from us. They have not been in our area before, now the community has been enlarged, it is part of our common area. Maybe 200 years ago the French left those wastes. Besides, who knows that they are harmful?" a participant of the meeting from Hagvi said.
The participants did not attach importance to the miner's socio-economic obligations to the community.
It should be noted that till 2020, "MULTI GROUP CONCERN" was not included in the list of companies defined by Law “On Targeted Use of Environmental Fees Paid by Companies”, as a result of which Mghart did not use the Company's environmental fees for environmental and health programs. According to the report published by the Company on the official website of the EITI, the Company did not pay an environmental fee to the state budget in 2017, nor did it pay soil management fees, as the mine did not operate in 2017. According to the same report, the Company did not pay the monitoring fee in 2017 either. The line of allocation to the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) of the Company's report for 2017 is zero.
Meanwhile, the report of Environment Ministry for 2017 states that the base amount to be paid by "MULTI GROUP CONCERN" to EPF is 6,315,000 AMD. The total amount of money to be allocated to the Fund as of December 31 of the year preceding the reporting year was 3,514,430 AMD, out of which 1,180,630 AMD was paid. The calculated amount of allocation to the Fund for the reporting year was 233,381 AMD, which was not paid.
The participants of the meeting mentioned that before 2018 the company had allocated 2 million AMD to the community, but stopped after 2018. "Now it does not work, it does not pay… It works, simply illegally," the participants of the meeting responded.
Mghart administrative representative Avag Mosinyan noted that after the closedown of the mine, the companies should have alternative development proposals for the village. "We have just started working in that direction. We turned to them (note by EcoLur: "Multi Group Concern" LLC) to see what they can do. In 2013, they had an obligation to make a social program in the community, they only helped with a small amount of money for one year, they did nothing in the other years. Those programs must be fixed. It would be desirable for all this to be regulated by law, for it to have the force of law, so that we do not go to the mining company and beg for it," he said.
Avag Mosinyan also referred to the possibility of Mghart alternative development. "The geographical location of the village, being surrounded by forests, allows us to consider the prospects for the development of tourism. There are already families who want to spend their holidays with us. The main branch of agriculture in our village is wheat. There are people who have an idea to get fuel from extra straw, they want to organize production, they face the problem of water. When doing any activity, we come to the problem of not having water.
In 2019, the government decided to build a drinking water line, the project is being developed. We hope that at least a tender will be put up soon, and in 2022 there will be financing for the construction. If the water issue is resolved, many issues can be resolved in the village," Avag Mosinyan said.
“Social and Ecological Responsibility” project is carried out by “Center for Community Mobilization and Support”, “Martuni Women’s Community Council”, “New Horizons”, “EcoLur” and “Forests of Armenia” NGOS within the frameworks of The Data for Accountable and Transparent Action (DATA) project.
The Data for Accountable and Transparent Action (DATA) project is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of DATA Project are the sole responsibility of “Community Mobilization and Suppert Center” NGO and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, EPF, and DATA Consortium.
January 11, 2022 at 19:20