DEVELOPMENT OF TEKHUT DEPOSIT WILL RESULT IN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER: EXPERTS

Yerevan, February 9. ArmInfo. The development of Tekhut
copper-molybdenum deposit in Lori region of Armenia will result in an
ecological disaster, President of the Union of the Greens of Armenia
Hakob Sanasaryan said during a press-conference today.

Even though Armenian Copper Programme (ACP) says that it will launch
the project in 2011, it may well start the preparations this year. This
is an unprecedented case: the authorities deliberately ignore the
fact that this project may kill 600 h of woods and many rare species
living in the area.

Sanasaryan is skeptical of ACP’s assurances that on the preparatory
stage it will cut down just 27,000 trees. In fact, the question is
about 170,000 trees. Sanasaryan pointed to a number of "inaccuracies"
in the feasibility report on the project. For example, the report
says that the damage caused by the felling of a wild pear with a
diameter of 36 cm will make up just 1,000 AMD, while, in fact, such
a pear costs 25,500 AMD.

However, A.Sanasaryan noted that it is not the only mistake of the
feasibility study of the copper-molybdenum deposit. Particularly, it
fails to mention that 55 species of mammals (21 of them are registered
in the Red Book), 86 species of birds, 29 species of squamoses (11
of them are in the Red Book), as well as 191 species of plants (9 of
them are in the Red Book) will become victims of the ACP’s pecuniary
interests. He also emphasized that even if the ACP leadership gives its
consent to the implementation of the project in a more sparing regime,
the Tekhut forest will turn into a junkyard for toxic industrial waste
at best. According to A.Sanasaryan, it is not known how many tons of
repugnant substances will be emitted into the atmosphere due to the
ACP’s activity. But one thing is clear – in case of exploiting the
deposit, nothing will prevent the contamination of soil and water with
toxic waste. He emphasized that the damage done to the Lori region’s
environment will probably never be compensated for.

As per the preliminary calculations, the storage of Tekhut deposit
of copper-molybdenum ore makes up 500 mln t. Specialists say that
in reality the volume can be bigger. It is planned to extract 70
thnd t of 28-30% copper concentrate, and – 1200 t of 50% molybdenum
concentrate. As per the final calculations of the experts, it is
planned to extract 8-12 t of ore in Tekhut.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress