ARMENIAN MINING COMPANIES RESUME EXPORT
Ruben Meloyan

Armenialiberty.org
Aug 26 2009

Several companies in Armenia’s troubled mining industry have reportedly
resumed exports of their products responding to a more favorable
price situation on the international market of non-ferrous metals.

An Armenian cargo shipping company confirmed to RFE/RL on Wednesday
that it is now providing services to several mining enterprises
exporting their products, including the plants in Agarak, Kajaran,
Kapan and Alaverdi.

Gagik Aghajanian, the executive director of the Apaven company,
linked this activity to a certain rise in international prices for
non-ferrous metals.

"They already work and work at a profit. It is another thing that in
the past they worked at a super profit. Now they do not idle as it
was at the beginning of this year," said Aghajanian.

Rubina Ter-Martirosian, a spokesperson for the Deno Gold Mining Company
that owns the copper-molybdenum enterprise in Kapan, confirmed to
RFE/RL that the company has resumed exports.

Ter-Martirosian said the enterprise that halted its operations in
November resumed in April. She, however, found it difficult to mention
when exactly the enterprise began to export its products.

"It is difficult to say when we began our export because it took some
time for a certain amount of concentrate to be accumulated before
its export began," she explained.

Ter-Martirosian, however, denied that the company has worked at a
profit. She said that since its foundation in 2006, the company has
worked at a loss. "The investments that the owner has made into the
enterprise have not yet paid," she added.

Non-ferrous metals have become Armenia’s number one export item in
recent years on the back of their soaring prices in world markets. The
collapse of global demand for them and a dramatic fall in prices
in the last quarter of 2008 has been the main reason why Armenian
exports tumbled dramatically in the first half of this year.

The Armenian industry showed a nearly 12 percent decline in the first
seven months of this year and idling enterprises in the mining sphere
have significantly contributed to this decline.

The Armenian government in late June approved a total of $44 million
in fresh loans to three struggling mining companies, namely Zangezur
Mining, Armenia Molybdenum Production, and the Agarak Copper and
Molybdenum Combine. The financial assistance was made possible due
to a $500 million Russian credit obtained by Armenia recently.

A spokesperson for GeoProMining, the owner of the Agarak Copper
and Molybdenum Combine, told RFE/RL that the enterprise resumed its
operations on June 30 and immediately reached the projected production
capacity, extracting 240 tons of copper ore a month.

According to Ruzanna Grigorian, the enterprise exports 2,500 tons of
copper concentrate and 30 tons of molybdenum to European markets on a
monthly basis. The spokesperson also added that GeoProMining fulfils
all its obligations to the staff and the Armenian government.

The Agarak plant temporarily halted its operations in February 2009,
but 500 workers continued to receive their full wages throughout
the downtime, while 400 workers were on a forced vacation and were
paid two-thirds of their wages. Currently, the enterprise employs
900 workers.

The international price for copper drastically fell last October –
from $8,000 to $3,000-3,500 per ton. The price has now partially
rebound to some $6,300.