OLD GEGHANUSH TAILING PIT BEING RESTORED
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The company Dino Gold Mining is
restoring the old Geghanush tailing pit to dump its waste there. Vahe
Vardanian, head of the company’s nature protection unit, told this to
reporters during a media tour organized under the project "Promotion
of Ecological Journalism in Armenian Regions for Monitoring of
Environmental Protection Problems of the Corridor of the Eastern
Caucasus Minor." The project is being implemented by the Ecolur NGO
with the financial support of the Caucasian Program of the Critical
Ecosystem Partnership Fund and the World Wildlife Fund (CEPF/WWF).
V. Vardanian underlined that the tailing pit is being constructed
with the use of modern technologies, and will have a closed cycle. The
new construction will occupy not only the area of the old tailing pit
but will also raise its level to the height of 50 meters. It means the
nearby mountain slopes and land plots of inhabitants of the village of
Geghanush will be covered by liquid waste of the enterprise.
According to V. Vardanian, it is envisaged to pay compensation to
these people.
However, the head of the village community Grigor Safarian said that
the opinions of village inhabitants were not taken into account during
the ecological expert examination. While the new tailing pit is under
construction, the waste is dumpted into the old one. Levon Petrosian,
head of the territorial state nature protection inspection, explained
to reporters that although the tailing pit is a temporary one, it
performs its functions. Yet, according to local journalists, the waste
is poured into the Vokhchi River without being treated.