EcoLur
On November 5 the opening ceremony of 'Sagamar' Ore Processing Combine was held. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan took part in this event. The combine will concentrate the gold-bearing ore from Armanis gold mine: the license for development has been issued to Russian 'Neva-Rus' Company.
This is official information, what about unofficial one, It's already several years since mass media and NGOs in Stepanavan can’t get answers from Sagamar management to the questions they are concerned about.
In her interview with EcoLur, local 'Lori Environmental Club’ Chairman Manya Melikjanyan said, ''People come to our office and complain they have cracks appeared in their houses because of the explosions in the mine. They are also afraid of using the water of Dzoraget River, as they say, the river has changes its colour due to the pollution with mining wastes.
People are concerned with probable radiation hazards. We asked Nature Protection Ministry, but they told us not to deal with disseminating misinformation, where you know from whether or not there is uranium.
The locals who live near the mine say they have headaches because of the dust caused by explosions.
But Manya Melikjanyan thnks the largest hazard is wastes and dumps containing toxic metals. 'We asked them both in writing and orally to also us to enter the mine territory and to show the wastes. We either didn't receive any reply, or got very rude replies. The journalists who wrote about this problem were also threatened,' she said.
President Of Armenia Visited SAGAMAR CJSC
www.globalmetals.am
On 5 November President Serzh Sargsyan visited Armanis Concentrator, located near town of Stepanavan, Lori marz.
In the administrative building of "Sagamar” CJSC, President Sargsyan was introduced to the works and future projects of Neva-Rus Investment Group, which has been developing Armanis gold-polymetallic and Dastakert copper-molybdenum deposits since 2007, through two ventures in the mining industry: "Sagamar”CJSC and “Molibdeny Ashxarh” LLC, being managed by GLOBAL METALS (ARM) Limited Company Armenian Branch in Yerevan, Armenia.
Neva-Rus Director in Charge of Investments and Armenian Projects Garen Ghazaryan informed journalists that the plant will employ around 500 workers and import special purpose filtering stations of Canadian and German manufacture.
The Group’s overall investments in Armenian projects are expected to reach 0 million, and about 1000 new jobs will be created.
November 07, 2011 at 14:03