EcoLur
Nature protection Ministry again displayed the announcement on holding public hearings in Hrazdan on the project of opencast development of nepheline and syenite mine. The hearings will be held in Hrazdan town, Kotayk Region. The project is submitted by “Alumina Corporation” LLC. It should be mentioned that this mine was planned to be developed still in the Soviet time. But as RA NAS Academician Fadey Sargsyan mentioned, who headed the Armenian SSR Government before the collapse of the USSR, the project was turned down because of high risks and incomplete technologies. In his interview with Yulia Kuleshova (the Delovoi Express, 2005, N 21) Fadey Sargsyan said, “At the suggestion of Academician Manvel Manvelyan, in the 60-70’s of the 20th century a mining-chemical combine was built in Hrazdan Town for the processing of nepheline and syenite and to get primary aluminum in a closed cycle. Over 117 million roubles had been drawn. The specialists proved if the combine started operating, the vegetation in a radius of 15-20 kilometers would be destroyed, whereas the combine was constructed in the most beautiful area in the republic, where up to 50,000 people went on their holidays per year.” As the same article says, Academician of Academy of Sciences of Armenian SSR Manvel Manvelyan proposed to use encapsulated burial of wastes, as in case of nuclear wastes.
May 24, 2012 at 12:43