EcoLur
Within recent two years Kapan Town and its surroundings (Syunik Region) at least six times found itself under breakdown discharges of industrial enterprises. In November 2010, the breakdown of the tailing pipe at Zangezour Copper and Molybdenum Combine led to the pollution of the Voghji transboundary river. The damage was assessed in the amount of 650,000 AMD, while the range of the fine made up 100,000 AMD. In May 2011 the ZCMC tails flooded the gorge and reached the area of Sgharghik (the amount of damage and fine is not known). In the summer of 2011, the residents of 5 private farms located in a distance of 3 km from Kapan, showed to EcoLur working group their land areas adjoining to their houses, where the tails poured out. The reason of the discharge remained unknown, as the official bodies, particularly the Environmental Inspection didn’t respond to the residents’ complaints. In August 2012, as a result of the breakdown of the tailing pipe at ZCMC, under the official data, 28 tons of tails poured out into the Voghji River flowing through Kapan Town (out of 38 tons which were officially fixed). The range of damage made up 294,000 AMD.
Kapan Ore Processing Combine owned by Deno Gold Mining Company twice discharged dumps in Kapan in 2012. As a result of the tailing pipe breakdown on 15 November 2012, the surroundings of Geghanush tailing dump were flooded: the range of the amount made up 2,880,000 AMD (the amount of the fine for the first breakdown is not known).
Kapan new Mayor Ashot Hayrapetyan is concerned with the situation. He made the following situation on the website of the town www.kapan.am: “In future time we will meet with the competent bodies of the combine (DenoGoldMining) and, first of all, we will discuss the issue of reducing risks from industrial breakdowns. It’s not a secret that it’s impossible to eliminate the consequences of the breakdown in short period of time and this becomes a serious environmental problem,” said Kapan Mayor.
November 22, 2012 at 12:58