ArmInfo. "Jermuk should remain a resort city," said a resident of Jermuk, on whose door the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan knocked and asked her opinion on the exploitation of the Amulsar field.
To the prime minister's clarifying question, will she change her mind if the absolute security of the program is proved, a resident of Jermuk said: "I don't think that a mine can be operated in the immediate vicinity of the resort town. This is the opinion of the entire population of the city." When the prime minister left the building, the city residents met him, chanting: "Amulsar – without a mine."
Note that the Amulsar gold mine is located 10 kilometers in a straight line from Jermuk. After Pashinyan gave a preliminary "green light" to the program during a Facebook live broadcast on August 19, stating that according to the international expertise, Amulsar does not harm Sevan and the environment, residents of the surrounding areas and Jermuk assured that they will take part in unlimited protests, but they will not allow to continue the operation of the mine.
It should be noted that earlier the Prime Minister during a live broadcast on his Facebook page, the head of government said that the Government of Armenia will conduct constant monitoring during the development of the field. He once again assured that if facts were suddenly revealed that would cast doubt on the feasibility of exploiting the field, then the authorities would return to the problem, as they were not constrained by anything.
On August 14, the Investigative Committee of Armenia presented the expert opinion on the Amulsar project of the consulting company Earthlink & Advanced Resources Development (ELARD). Based on the conclusion of the examination, the SC of Armenia stated that there is no direct connection between the underground waters located on the territory of the Amulsar project and the thermal hot springs of Jermuk. There is also no connection with the waters of the Sevan basin.
Moreover, as indicated in the UK, during an earthquake, a certain concentration of acid drainage can penetrate into the basin of Lake Sevan through the Spandaryan and Ketchut reservoirs. However, the combination of this concentration will be insignificant on the scale of Lake Sevan. The third important conclusion, on the Arpa, Vorotan and Darb rivers, can be mitigated if LydianArmenia takes 16 environmental mitigation measures proposed by experts. As the head of the UK Hayk Grigoryan pointed out, LydianArmenia representatives have already expressed their readiness to implement 15 of the proposed 16 events: 10 events they are already holding, 5 will be ready to conduct in the near future. In addition to the water basin, the public is also concerned about the possible presence of uranium reserves in the deposit. So, in his work "Uranium bearing of geological formations in Armenia", the famous scientist, Doctor of Geological Sciences Petros Gevorkovich Aloyan noted that the Amulsar manifestation of uranium is located 4 km south-east of the village of Ketchut and 5 km north-west of the top of the mountain of the same name .
Approximately 76 tons of uranium were calculated for five sections of the Amulsar manifestation, and taking into account uranium in the thorium section, its total reserves can be estimated at 100 tons. Moreover, according to the research of another scientist, Professor G.S. Avagyan, according to 40 samples of Amulsar ore, there are 195 tons of uranium and thorium there. Meanwhile, the development of uranium deposits requires special permission from the government, which Lidian does not have. According to the company, the deposit contains about 73733 kg of gold with an average grade of 0.78 g per ton, as well as 294.367 tons silver with an average content of 9.29 g per ton. At the same time, about uranium – not a word.
Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of British Lydian International The total cost of the Amulsar project is $ 370 million. The field's life will be 10 years and 4 months, with an average of 200 thousand ounces of gold being mined annually. Amulsar field is the second largest reserves in Armenia.