EurasiaNet, NY
Feb 23 2007
CIVIL SOCIETY
ARMENIA: COPPER MINE SPARKS ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCRY
Marianna Grigoryan 2/23/07
The Armenian Ministry of Environmental Protection’s recent decision
to give the go-ahead to the development of a copper-molybdenum mine
in northern Armenia has sparked considerable concern among
environmentalists and related non-governmental organizations.
"We consider the program of operation for the Teghut
copper-molybdenum mine to be illegal," commented Hakob Sanasaryan,
president of the Union of the Greens of Armenia, an activist group.
"It is being implemented with gross violations of the law and without
any environmental impact studies."
The Teghut copper-molybdenum mine, located in the mountainous
northern region of Lori, more than 200 kilometers north of Yerevan,
was well known in Soviet times. At that time, its copper reserves
were estimated at 450-500 million tons. In the 1970s, a ban was
placed on development of the mine to preserve the surrounding virgin
forests and the fauna they contained.
However, in the push to adapt to economic changes, that ban has now
been lifted.
"We were asked `Is it worth or not?’ We said, `Yes, it is,’" Minister
of Environmental Protection Vardan Ayvazian told a June 2006 press
conference in response to a question about the development of the
Teghut mine. Final government approval for exploitation of the
territory came in November 2006. "Wealth is contained here, and the
environmental damage must be compensated."
No one doubts the mine’s earning potential. Currently, the
established reserves in Teghut make 1.6 million tonnes of copper and
99,000 tonnes of molybdenum, a metal primarily incorporated into
alloys to strengthen steel for pipelines and planes, among other
uses. Teghut’s reserves rank it as Armenia’s second largest
copper-molybdenum mine after the Zangezur mine in the town of
Kajaran, according to Gagik Arzumanyan, director of Armenian Copper
Program (ACP), the Armenian company awarded the tender to develop the
mine in 2001.
With copper prices running at record highs in recent years, tens of
millions are expected in estimated profits, with a sizeable hunk of
that amount going to the state in taxes. On February 22, copper was
selling for $5.61 per metric tonne on the London Metal Exchange.
ACP, part of a larger group of companies with operations in Armenia,
Russia and Liechtenstein, plans to run the mine for 25-30 years as an
open-pit mine, a far less expensive operating method, but one which
removes the upper layer of earth, uprooting hectares of lime, beech,
maple and nut trees.
Environmentalists claim that 510 hectares of humus-rich,
forest-covered land out of a local total of 670 hectares are expected
to be lost; an estimated 127,700 trees will be logged.
"A whole eco-system will vanish as a result, the [territory’s
ecological] balance will unequivocally be disturbed," commented
environmental lawyer Nazeli Vardanian, director of the
non-governmental organization Forests of Armenia. Expert assessments
completed for the environment ministry give no estimates of the
number of species of flora and fauna likely to be destroyed by the
mining, or the effect on local humans, he charged.
Experts from the state-run commission in Yerevan that approved the
assessment for the ministry declined to speak with EurasiaNet.
By contrast, a months-long independent investigation conducted by
Vardanian, Union of the Greens of Armenia President Sanasarian and
Social-Ecological Association President Srbuhi Harutyunian found that
the mining will cause tremendous damage to the surrounding
environment.
According to these findings, if the mine is developed, 59 bird
species, 55 mammal species, 10 reptile species, 29 species of fish
and 191 plant species will be destroyed. Twenty-one of the mammals,
11 of the fish species and nine of the plant species are registered
in the International Red Book of Endangered Species published by the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources. Two of the plant species can only be found within the
Teghut forests.
Architectural monuments dating from the Bronze Age to the 12th
century — and ranging from tombs and churches to traditional
Armenian khachkars, or stone crosses — will also be destroyed,
specialists fear.
"The development of the Teghut mine will lay the grounds for an
unprecedented process," said Union of the Greens President
Sanasaryan. While mining has destroyed before parts of forests, he
said, "there hasn’t been a case until today that the whole territory
allotted for mining is a natural forest."
In response, Vardanian and his group say that there are "good"
grounds for petitioning the prosecutor’s office to have the
ministry’s allegedly incomplete environmental assessment thrown out.
Optimism, however, does not run high that the group will succeed.
Lawyer Vardanian claimed that Environmental Protection Minister
Ayvazian has called the decision to restart the copper mine "a
political decision, and no matter what you do, it will still be
realized." The ministry failed to object to the 2001 tender for
development of the mine, Vardanian and his associates claim.
At a February 16 press conference, Minister Ayvazian characterized
the government’s position on the issue as "very tough."
"As many as 100,000 cubic meters of wood are logged in Armenia a year
legally, and 600-700,000 illegally, and I see no problem and
difficulty in connection with the tree cutting in Teghut," Ayvazyan
said. Logging will occur sector by sector, he added, and ACP will
"carry out forest rehabilitation works in other areas."
The Lori region in which the mine is situated is already considered
by healthcare and environmental specialists to be an environmental
disaster zone. According to Ministry of Health statistics, the rate
of allergies and asthmatic diseases in the region is ten times higher
than the national average. The rate of abnormal births in Lori is
also one of the highest in Armenia.
Environmentalists point at ongoing extractative activities in the
region as the cause. Aside from Teghut, Lori contains an ore mine at
Akhtala, a chemical plant at Vanadzor, a plant at Tumanyan that
produces fire-resistant materials and a metallurgical plant at
Alaverdi, also run by the Armenian Copper Program. Since 1996, the
Alaverdi plant has been operated without filters, leading to regular
releases of sulfur dioxide and other harmful materials into the air.
"The Lori region has lost the state of eco-balance, and the
development of the Teghut mine will tremendously aggravate that
situation," commented Srbuhi Harutyunyan.
In response, ACP has pointed to the 1,400 jobs the reopened copper
mine will bring to local residents. Poverty in the region runs
rampant.
According to the environmentalists, though, not all villagers are
excited about the possibility of employment. More than half in the
neighboring villages of Teghut and Shnokh have refused to sell their
lands to the mine for exploitation, Vardanian said.
"Elderly people cannot imagine how they can leave the place where
they were born and live," he commented.
Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the
Armenianow.com weekly in Yerevan.