ArmInfo
Town of Hrazdan has found itself on the verge of environmental disaster.
The deposit to be developed by the Chinese company Fortune Oil is at 800 meters from the town of Hrazdan and at 1.5 kilometers from the River Hrazdan.
Experts think that the deposit development may pollute the town with heavy density metals and cause dangerous diseases among the local population.
Children will be especially endangered, as at less than 2 kilometers from the deposit there are three schools. According to assessments of experts, the development of the deposit will result in pollution of not only irrigation water, but also drinking water, as there are several springs near the hill of the deposit, and hundreds of people use these springs.
"If blasting operations are launched when developing the deposit, Hrazdan that is considered to be one of the most polluted towns because of the impact of a cement plant will find itself in the focus of an environmental disaster", Head of EcoLur NGO Inga Zarafyan said to ArmInfo correspondent.
She recalled that 2 years ago the local residents collected signatures against the implementation of the project. Over 1500 people signed under the relevant document.
"We do not fight against a specific company, we fight for receiving benefit from our subsurface management and improve our laws, which do not work. We want our government to realize at last that one should not simply hand out our wealth without a conception, tough strategy or independent estimation of the damage. This policy should be changed", said Zarafyan.
Ore mining at the Hrazdan deposit will start in 2014 and the mining output will total 1.5-2 mln tons per year. The quantity of the produced iron ore concentrate will amount to 800,000-1,000,000 tons per year. The reserves of Hrazdan that make up 77 mln tons (the confirmed and probable reserves make up 37 and 40 mln tons respectively), will be developed within 15 years.
The product will be exported by railway to a large port either in Georgia or Turkey or Iran, and the final sales market will be China. It is noteworthy that all the three mines to be developed by Fortune Oil (in Hrazdan, Abovyan and Svarants village) belong to Souren Ayvazyan, the son of the former minister of nature protection of Armenia Vardan Ayvazyan, and to Armenian MP Tigran Arzakantsyan.
March 16, 2011