EcoLur
“Armenia is interested developing all cooperation spheres with China without any exceptions. Active ties in recent years have revealed a number of priorities for cooperation, such as mining, chemical industry, where, as you know, there are significant achievements,” said Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan in his speech at Armenian-Chinese business conference on 12 April.
Certain steps have already been made in mining, as Chinese “Fortune Oil” Company has obtained the concession right to Hrazdan, Svarants and Abovyan iron mines which has caused public anxiety. Hrazdan iron mine is located near water resources that supply water not only to Hrazdan Town, but Yerevan. And not only the Chinese, but also most probably our Government was not aware of this fact. What about Svarants mine, we call the attention of our government to the fact this mine contains not only iron, but also valuable titanium, which will be exported with iron as a common mixture. These mines were evaluated still in the Soviet times: the content of iron in Hrazdan mine makes up 34%, high-quality iron and it is so high-quality that in the Soviet year the construction of a pure iron plant was launched in Yerevan with annual production capacity of 100,000 tons. For some reasons the construction was not finished. At present Zangezour Cooper and Molybdenum Combine processes copper and molybdenum concentrate. Abovyan mine hasn't been developed because of wide scales. There is basalt, which can be used in construction. While Svarants is characteristic of high content of rare and expensive titanium, vanadium and magnesium.
April 15, 2011