Zangezour Combine Concentrate instead of Fish

EcoLur

Amother accident at the tailing pipes of Zangezour Copper and Molybdenum Combine led to the emission of dumps into the territory of Kapan, Sgharshik Region. The dumps flooded the gorge and built up in the pit dug out by one of the residents for fish farming. Kapan-based Aarhus Center Coordinator Ashot Avagyan told EcoLur about this: the accident occurred at the night of May 8 and lasted for several hours. A group of ZCMC employees were called to the scene and tried to stop the leakage of dumps, including Territorial State Environmental Inspection Head Lenik Petrosyan. Though the flow of concentrate was significantly reduced due to employees’ efforts by 13:00, the soil had already been contaminated with the concentrate. Nowadays one shouldn’t think about fish, as well as other agricultural plans: “The smell only got me sick,” said Arshavir Khalatyan, the barrister heading Kapan Division of  Young Lawyers Association who arrived at the scene by the victim’s request. 

It should be noted that in November 2010 another breakdown occurred at the tailing pipes of ZCMC with dumps flowing into transboundary Voghji River. As a result, the State Environmental Inspection assessed the damages in the amount of 650,000 AMD, while the fine amounted to 100,000 AMD.

May 10, 2011 at 11:59