Tashtoun Residents Disappointed with Meghrasar Gold Mining Project

EcoLur

“AT-Metals” Armenian-Russian Joint Enterprise is not developing Meghrasar gold mine located in Syunik Region. As Tashtoun Community Head Henrik Gabrielyan informed Ecolur, the company was not able to apply the extraction technology. “We have not been working since December, they made mainly foreigners redundant,” Henrik Gabrielyan said.

“They shall introduce new technologies, make experiments, now they are waiting for people from China to arrive,” Tashtoun Community Head said.

It should be mentioned that the impact of technologies on environment must be reflected in the EIA, which was issued a positive expertise opinion by Nature Protection Ministry on 18 November 2014. If the company changes the technology, it should prepare a new project and EIA and to submit them for the environmental expertise.

Tashtoun community residents, who opposed to the development of the mine and had clashes with the environmentalists, are disappointed. Tashtoun residents told EcoLur that the mine gave them nothing as a project affected community, while promise given were many – starting from working places to social programs etc. only to have the consent of the community.

“As soon as the mine opened, it was closed down…now the workers are at home, they were told to go home and to have a rest,” villagers said.

Reminder: reasons why environmentalists opposed to the mining project are as follows:

1. Under WWF Armenia map, 60% of the mine is located in the area of “Arevik” National Park, which has 24 red-listed plant species, 32 vertebrate and invertebrate species.

2. Mining contains radiation risks, G.P. Aloyan and entitled “Uranium Capacity and Geological Formations of Armenia” says “The characteristic geotype of Megri open pit is Semizbai uranium mine in Kazakhstan…The aforementioned material and outcomes of special metallurgical experiments taking into consideration literature and library materials enable us considering the hole Megri open pit together with its underlaying granitoids of Meghri pluton as a perspective for gold-uranium-rare-metalllic ore grade mineralization with huge potential of a large mine of  Au-U-S(Fe) type. (pp. 63-65, G.P. Aloyan, Yerevan, GEOID, 2010).”

3. Under the project, in case of 50,000 tons per year production capacity, the total amount of emission will make up 252,687 tons per year, out of which 82.15 tons will result from explosion works. Like in other mining projects, dust contains toxic substances and heavy metals, which is not mentioned, though these very substances cause irreversible damage to environment – water resources, soil and human health.

4. The mine is located in a 9-magnitude seismic zone, but the project doesn’t mention any measures to be taken in case of a quake to minimize damage and to allot funds for these measures.

5. The project says that it’ planned to have a concrete dumpfill site of 25 m³ capacity for household wastewater, from where truck will regularly (once a month) transfer to the nearby cleaning station. It doesn’t mention which cleaning station will be used, as well as it doesn’t mention the list of measures in case of any spill. In general, cleaning stations in Armenia are mechanic and not chemical. Under the project, the total annual amount of polluting substances in the wastewater to be transferred to be cleaning station will make up 176.6 kg. In case of any pill these substances may appear in environment and the Meghri River, the water of which is used for the irrigation of local communities.

April 29, 2015 at 16:50