POLITICAL FIGURES ALSO EXPRESS ALARM ABOUT POSSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS DUE TO OPERATION OF TEGHUT MINE

Noyan Tapan
Oct 17 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. With the operation of the Teghut
mine, Armenia will irrecoverably lose the dense natural forests,
which are situated on mountanous slopes, cover an area of nearly
700 ha and have formed over centuries, together with their rich
biodiversity, member of the RA National Assembly "Orinats Yerkir
Party" faction Gurgen Sargsian expressed an alarm at the October 17
press conference. According to him, in addition to deforestation,
the operation of the mine will cause damage to the forests growing
nearby. The deputy explained that in case of operating the mine by
the open method proposed by Armenian Copper Program (ACP) company,
dust rich in active subsatnces will spead to the nearby forests.

Pollution and destruction of the important water formation systems
there is also inevitable.

G. Sargsian said that their aim is to get a positive solution to this
problems from the environmental point of view, for which all possible
means will be used.

Economist Razmik Terterian said that the draft on operation of the
Teghut mine contradicts the Constitution of the RA, the Land Code,
the Water Code, the Forest Code, the Code on Earth’s Interior and a
number of laws.

According to the draft, the economic damage will make 2.5 bln drams
(about 7.1 mln USD), but in reality, as the speaker underlined,
this damage will be several dozen times as much. By R. Terterian’s
estimates, Armenian Cooper Program will receive a net profit of 2
billion dollars as a result of operating the mine over a period of
15 years.
From: Baghdasarian