Stepanavan Aarhus Center Coordinator Manya Meliqjanyan, Aarhus.am
On 24 March public hearings were held in Armanis: the expansion of Armanis gold-polymetallic mine by 70 ha and open pit mining were on the agenda.
Stepanavan Municipality Staff Head Rostom Qocharyan mentioned that the mine has been developed for around 10 years, nevertheless, Stepanavan hasn’t received any dram as environmental free. Armanis mine not only harms development of tourism in Stepanavan, but also development of husbandry and agriculture.
Stepanavan Aarhus Center Coordinator added that the company developing Armanis gold-polymetallic mine regularly pollutes Dzoraget, dumps toxic wastes in improper places, even in the yard of the school, where children play on these wastes. The villagers complained that each time they face the horror of the quake, when they feel the shaking. They insisted they need land for cultivation and keeping animals, thus they are not ready to provide any land areas for mining.
Karine Movsisyan and Vram Tevosyan from “Environmental Impact Monitoring Center” SNCO of Nature Protection Ministry tried to calm down the villagers and urged that the distance of the mine from the village doesn’t exceed sanitary standards. In reply to numerous questions, the experts assured that at this stage there is no need for EIA document.
March 31, 2015 at 14:58