ISSUE OF TEKHUT COPPER AND MOLYBDENUM DEPOSIT’S EXPLOITATION TO BE RAISED AT PACE SUMMER SESSION

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 13:56:00

ArmInfo. Zaruhi Postanjyan, a parliamentarian from Heritage opposition
party, is going to raise the issue of exploitation of Tekhut copper
and molybdenum deposit at PACE Summer Session. The parliamentarian
expressed such an intention at Friday Club, Wednesday.

She fully shares the decision of Armenian ecologists to settle
the problem at the court. ‘Being aware of the imperfect judicial
system in our country, we have hired the best lawyer’, she
said. The parliamentarian believes that negligence of violations
of the legislation may lead to new violations, for instance, in
development of uranium deposits. ‘The government’s approval of Tekhut
project is a display of unserious attitude to Armenia’s future’, she
said. Z. Postanjyan highlighted that the proceeds from exploitation of
the deposit are miserable and will not make up even 1 percent of the
budget. So, the stress put on opening of 1500 jobs is not a convincing
reason for development of Tekhut deposits. There are already 20 tailing
dumps in Armenia and Tekhut deposit will be the largest one. Besides
ecologic risks, this project will require big funds from the state
budget every year, she said. As regards the $280 million credit the
VTB Bank is going to provide to ACP for implementation of the project,
such a step will negatively affect the bank’s reputation, she said.