ARMENIAN COURT REFUSES TO BLOCK MINING PROJECT
Hasmik Smbatian
1992756.html
24.03.2010
An Armenian court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit against a
controversial mining project which ecologists say would wreak further
havoc on Armenia’s shrinking green areas.
The environment protection group Ekodar asked the Administrative
Court earlier this year to annul recent years’ government decisions
allowing a private mining company to develop a massive copper and
molybdenum deposit in the northern Lori region.
The Teghut deposit is estimated to contain 1.6 million tons of copper
and about 100,000 tons of molybdenum. Its commercial exploitation
would result in the destruction of 357 hectares of rich forest,
including 128,000 trees.
In their 66-page lawsuit, Ekodar lawyers said the
Lichtenstein-registered company Armenian Copper Program (ACP) received
an official authorization to press ahead with the project in violation
of laws and government regulations relating to environment protection.
The Ministry of Environment and other government agencies sued by
the non-governmental organization deny this.
The court took the government’s side in the dispute, ruling that
Ekodar is not even entitled to taking legal action against the
Teghut-related decisions. The verdict came just one day after it opened
public hearings on the case. The presiding judge, Artsrun Mirzoyan,
controversially decided on Tuesday to adjudicate the dispute under
an "accelerated procedure" that bars litigants from making oral
presentations of their cases and asking each other questions in court.
Hayk Alumian, an Ekodar lawyer, said this was done to minimize public
resonance caused by the suit. "I knew that there is pressure on the
court and that the court will not agree to rule in our favor," he told
RFE/RL. "But at least I expected a public trial during which we would
present our arguments and hear the arguments of the opposite side."
Hrayr Savzian, the Ekodar chairman, expressed hope that the brief
court battle will nonetheless put the Teghut controversy under greater
international spotlight. He said the European Court of Human Rights
is already looking into a lawsuit filed by his organization.
The global economic crisis appears to have put the Teghut project on
hold. ACP has yet to attract an estimated $260 million in investments
needed for its implementation. A top ACP executive said last year that
the company has delayed the launch of large-scale open-pit operations
at Teghut until 2011.
ACP, which operates copper mines and a smelter elsewhere in Lori,
admits the heavy environmental cost of its plans but says that will
be more than offset by 1,400 new jobs which it has pledged to create
in the economically depressed area. It has also pledged to build new
schools and make other investments in the local infrastructure.