Borderline Geghanush settlement is located about 6 km south of Kapan, the regional center of Syunik Region. In 2017, Geghanush became part of Kapan consilidated community. The village has a population of over 300 residents, who are mainly engaged in animal husbandry and crop farming. The needs in the village are many, but there are no job opportunities.
Geghanush Village
As part of the development of mining and metallurgical industries in the region, the tailing dam of Kapan ore processing plant-known as the Geghanush tailings dump-was built in the village. It has been operating intermittently since 1962. For the construction of the tailings facility, the course of the Geghanush River was altered and its waters were diverted into a concrete tunnel.
Voghji river
For more than 60 years, the Geghanush tailings dump has been expanded, with dam elevation works carried out several times.
The Geghanush tailing dump
According to the 2024 application for the preliminary environmental impact assessment (EIA) concerning the modification of the Geghanush tailings dam project, as of March 31, 2023, the dump contained 7.35 million cubic meters of tailings.
In 2025, the company submitted a new application to increase production capacity from 600,000 tons per year to 1 million tons per year. The facility is planned to be redesigned from an upstream model to a centerline model, increasing its total capacity to 17.4 million cubic meters. This application has not yet received a conclusion from the Ministry of Environment.
Administrative building in Geganush
Residents of Geghanush have repeatedly voiced concerns about the risks posed by the tailings facility. They also shared their worries with representatives of the Czech “Arnika” NGO, EcoLur Informational NGO, and the Community Consolidation and Support Center NGO, who recently visited the village.
These organizations are implementing “Ecological Transformation of Mining Areas in Armenia” project, which aims to help communities assess environmental pollution levels and support their transition to cleaner and safer livelihoods. The project is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
NGO representatives in Geghanush
Zhanna Sargsyan, a resident of Geghanush for over 40 years, said she loves her village and rural life, but the problems are overwhelming.
Zhanna Sargsyan
“The roads are destroyed, people’s health is deteriorating. The tailings dump is very close to us, and they’ve been raising it higher and higher in recent years. When the wind blows, dust and odors rise from the gorge and reach us. Our greenery dries out, the fruit in our orchards spoils. We know the company gives money to the community, but we don’t know how that money is used,” said the resident of Geghanush.
The road in Geghanush
Villagers want to understand what is causing the worsening of their health, and to what extent the soil and crops are contaminated.
Village
Arnika’s experts took samples from villagers’ household gardens, from the areas adjacent to the Geghanush tailings facility, as well as biological samples from local residents.
The village is not gasified
The samples will be analyzed in certified laboratories in the Czech Republic, and the results will be shared with the local community. The findings will be public and accessible to all interested stakeholders.
Expert on toxic substances in the environment at Arnika, Nikola Jelinek
This article was prepared with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic within the framework of the Transformation Cooperation Program.
October 30, 2025 at 12:05