DECISION ON PRODUCING MINERALS IN TEGHUT IS AGAINST ARMENIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Lragir.am
06-11-2007 12:53:39

The government granted license to Valex Group’s owner Valery Mejlumyan
to produce copper in Teghut on illegal documents, despite warnings of
environmentalists, stated the president of the Union of Greens Hakob
Sanasaryan on November 6 at the National Press Club. "The decision of
the government does not have legal grounds, the government decision
is illegal, it is based on false documents," Hakob Sanasaryan says.

According to him, the program of the operation of mine violates
the law.

"The program includes miscalculations, false facts, abuse. They say
they have held public hearings but the stakeholder held the hearings,
in other words, the Valex Group company. According to the law, or
they say according to the law, the relevant agency is supposed to
hold hearings, that is the ministry of environmental protection,
but no hearings have been held," Hakob Sanasaryan says.

According to him, the ministry of environment has granted itself
a license for studying the mine. "The same ministry made a final
environmental conclusion. It was sheer bias," says the president of
the Union of Greens.

According to him, the operation of the mines will destroy the entire
environmental area of Teghut, turning it into a dead area. "Four
rivers, the Krunk, the Pakasajur, the Kharatanogh, will be completely
destroyed, the Shnogh river will be polluted with such materials,
heavy metals which get into the flora and fauna and stay there forever
because those are heavy metals and pollutants which never decay and
disappear," Hakob Sanasaryan says. He says according to scientific
literature, these substances may cause grave diseases, genetic
mutations, heritable diseases, babies are born dead or with defects.

Hakob Sanasaryan says the decision to operate the mine in Teghut is
against Armenia and its people. "They sell their souls, the future
of our people, to acquire positions and enjoy other benefits, or
they occupy high-ranking positions being absolutely ignorant," Hakob
Sanasaryan says. He says he envies people who have not gone deeper into
the subject because in case they do, they will feel deeply depressed.

The president of the Union of Greens says they have urged the president
to deal with this problem but he has not reacted, and the Greens do not
know the president’s opinion. The efforts to meet the prime minister
are also in vain. Hakob Sanasaryan says he phones the assistant of
the prime minister two or three times a week to find out when Serge
Sargsyan will appoint a meeting. However, it is impossible to find
the assistant, Hakob Sanasaryan says.