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CASUALTIES OF ORE?: RESIDENTS OF MINING TOWN SAY THE PRICE OF PROGRESS IS THEIR HEALTH
By Arpi Harutyunyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Three or four times a week, at around 5pm, an earthquake takes place
in the town of Kajaran.
The earth shakes as workers at the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum
Plant detonate explosions in open cast mines to extract the ore
for processing.
Kajaran is a town in Syunik marz, 346 kilometers from Yerevan, with
an official population estimated at 9,800, though many residents
insist that it is lower. The mine is some 10 kilometers outside it,
but the “earthquake” registers in the shaking of the houses and the
large cloud of dust that rises into the sky.
“We are already used to the explosions. Another question is that all
that dust covers the town later and we breathe the air. We process
waste saturated with a thousand poisonous materials, and drink
contaminated water,” says Ofik, a 62-year-old resident of Kajaran,
whose son also works at the plant and has a serious illness of
stomach. (The names of workers at the plant have been changed and
their last names are not given at their request.)
“A year ago another piece of land was allocated to the town cemetery
and it was full by the end of the year.”
Arman, 24, who left Kajaran for Yerevan with his wife and baby son,
says: “There are hardly 7,000 people in Kajaran and many leave the
town because the environment is completely destroyed. Three or four
people a day die, especially in spring, although the Municipality
may insist that this is nothing unusual.”
According to the National Statistical Service and the Municipality,
87 deaths were registered in 2004, compared to a maximum of 53 annually
in the previous four years.
Arman’s wife Ani, 22, was pregnant when they decided to leave because
of concerns about the bad air and water. She recalls: “When I was
pregnant I couldn’t stand Kajaran at all; I would always choke,
I couldn’t breathe. Even in the cold winter months, the air in the
town is heavy with sulphur gas. The snow is always yellow in Kajaran.”
Kristine, 25, from Kajaran, will give birth to her second child in a
few months. She is also concerned about her baby’s health. She says:
“I already have a 2-year-old child and we are constantly in hospital
because the boy suffers intestinal problems. There is not a single
healthy person in the town.”
Workers at the mining plant are in the incomparably worse conditions,
but are unwilling to talk about their health for one simple reason:
they are afraid of losing their jobs because that means condemning
their families to poverty. There is not a single family in Kajaran
that does not have someone working in the industry.
“Everyone is afraid of complaining because they will be fired. Where
we work in the plant there is little oxygen, it is terribly dusty and
there is high radiation. The plant has partial filtration which is why
the rest of the residents suffer along with the workers,” says Hayk,
a 24-year-old locksmith at the plant.
The head of the Industrial-Technical Department of the plant Grenik
Hambartsumyan insists that neither the workers nor the residents have
health problems.
“Don’t you see that everyone looks fresh? We provide special food,
including compulsory milk. I’ve worked here for many years, do you
see anything strange about me?” he says.
Some people at the plant recall that special conditions existed in the
past, but not now. Valeri, 50, says: “What milk are they talking about
when we don’t even respirators to protect us against the dust? Our
mouths are full only of dust and dirt.”
It is known that the molybdenum dust affects human and especially
men’s fertility. Nina, 50, whose son works in the industry, says:
“It is shameful to say, but men here become impotent after 30. The
majority of women have tumors of the uterus and while still very
young are no longer able to deliver children. The number suffering
from cancer is also high.”
Lernik Davtyan, a construction engineer, also witnesses the high
level of radiation in the locality. In the 1980s he was a member of
the Armenian National Movement Environmental Commission and studied
the environmental situation in Kajaran.
“We studied the moss that accumulates radiation most of all. There
were places where the reading went off the dial on the measuring
apparatus. We sent samples to France and the response was that there
was a ‘Chernobil cocktail’ in the moss,” says Davtyan.
Even Hambartsumyan does not deny the effects of molybdenum. He says
amicably: “I know how men’s genitals go out of use as a result of
molybdenum. The radiation is high especially in the mine and the
plant. That is why I did everything to be engaged more in office
work and I reached the position of the head of production-technical
department.”
That a significant part of the people in Kajaran are ill is
obvious. People even joke that the town is distinguished from others
by its collective cough. A significant part of residents have lung
problems.
The chief doctor in the town Vartan Avagyan, of the Kajaran Medical
Center, says: “The town is considered a hotbed of illnesses of
the thyroid, female genitals and breast. The number of pregnancy
pathologies is also high. One can say that the number of births and
deaths is close to the norm.”
The center’s urologist Virab Minasyan confirms that illnesses of the
male genitals are common. He has worked in Karajan for several months;
previously the hospital had never had an urologist.
Emil Babayan, head of the Industrial Toxicology Laboratory at the
Research Institute for General Hygiene and Professional Diseases,
explains the possible effects of the industrial processes on health.
“Waste from the plant includes elements of molybdenum, quartz, lead
and other metals. These agents first of all affect lungs, genitals,
reproduction function, the development of the embryo in the uterus,
the central neural system, intestines and liver,” says Babayan.
“Since Soviet times, cases of silicosis, breathing illnesses and blood
disorders have been most frequently seen in Kajaran. Silicosis is an
industrial illnesses linked to breathing mine dust.”
The health of the population worsened especially in 2000 after
molybdenum processing resumed at the complex. Every day for four years,
round the clock, the flues of the works belch sulphur dioxide into
the town’s air.
“The gas expelled from the works affects especially the lungs and
hemoglobin in the blood. That is why people get tired quickly, the
body weakens. The contaminated air affects the mental abilities of
children as well,” says Svetlana Hayrapetyan, a chemistry and biology
teacher at Kajaran’s School Number 2.
Vladik Martirosyan, an engineer at the Environmental Department of
the industries confirms the danger of the exhaust fumes.
“There were times when there was no pipe and the sulphur would fall
directly onto the town. Now the pipe is 300-400 meters above the town,
but sulphur and dust still affect people. We still can’t totally
neutralize the sulphur fumes and sulphur after all has a destructive
character, it is natural that it can’t be safe,” says Martirosyan.
The director of the industries, Maxim Hakobyan, believes people in
the town do not have serious health problems.
“The works can’t cause significant damage. The industry has studied
many times the influence the production may have on people’s health
and I can tell you there are no serious problems today,” he says.
Klement Hakobyan, head of the Kapan Mining Metallurgy and Enrichment
Laboratory, says he created a technology in the 1970s that almost
totally removes sulphur gas from fumes released into the atmosphere.
“The management of the plants does not want to apply this technology
to avoid extra expense. Today, nearly 35 per cent of the sulphur gas
in the atmosphere is the product of emissions. It is destroying nature
and causing a thousand breathing illnesses,” he says.
Despite everything, Mayor Vartan Gevorgyan sides with Hakobyan, the
director of the plant, in arguing that gas releases do not affect
people’s health.
“The geographical location of our town does not allow the emissions
to reach it. In Soviet times, releases were poured directly into the
river if there was an accident, but now everything is under strict
control. We take drinking water from that river, catch trout there,”
says the Mayor.
Today the Ministry of Health conducts no studies on the
possible influence of the environment on the health of the
population. Responding to ArmeniaNow’s inquiry, Norayr Davidyan,
the Minister of Health, said: “No separate financing is allotted for
the National Program on Activities in the Sphere of Environmental
Hygiene…at present the RA Ministry of Health does not conduct any
survey on the morbidity of the population in Syunik marz.”
The Ministry of Environmental Protection has never conducted monitoring
of air quality in Syunik marz. The water basin has been studied in
1988, 1989, 1990 and 2004.
“In terms of contamination Zangezur (an historical name for Syunik),
particularly Kajaran, Kapan, Agarak as industrial towns are in the
risk zone: but the Armenian Environmental Monitoring Agency does not
conduct regular observations of the air in these settlements. Nor
does the Armenian Environmental Monitoring Agency conduct regular
surveys of soil contamination,” says Rudolf Torosyan, director of
the Center for Environmental Influences at the state Ministry of
Environmental Protection.
Kajaran is first of all known for its molybdenum mines, and therefore
also for the copper and molybdenum industries through the Zangezur
Copper and Molybdenum Plant Closed Joint Stock Venture. Armenia has
7.6 per cent of the world’s molybdenum reserves, and 90 per cent of
that is exploited by the Zangezur plant. The Kajaran mine is unique
not only for its large size, but also for the high molybdenum content
of the ore.
“Owing to these industries, 60-65 per cent of the population has
well-paid jobs. In Soviet times, it had 1,600 people working there
and now there are 2,800. We consider Kajaran’s social problems
solved. There are 450-500 million drams circulating inside the town
each month, that’s 50,000 drams per capita,” says Gevorgyan, the Mayor.
The Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant was founded in 1951. By
1957, nearly 1 million tons of mine ore had been extracted. The peak
year was 1989, when ore extraction reached more than 9 million tons,
but by 1992-1993 the industries had ground to a halt following the
economic collapse. Regular production resumed in 1994.
The Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant was sold in December 2004
for $132 million. A German company, Chronimet, bought 60 per cent of
the stock, with 15 per cent going to the Yerevan Makur Yerkat plant,
12.5% to Zangezur Mining organization (whose president is the plant’s
director Maxim Hakobyan), and 12.5% to Armenian Molybdenum Production
enterprise.
According to Hakobyan, the plant entered new phase of production
this year. He says: “In 2005 the volume of production will grow by
15 per cent, the amount of molybdenum and copper extraction from the
mining ore will increase. We will double the volume of production in
coming years.”
The intensified production will bring significant environmental
problems, admits Artur Ashughyan, head of the Economics of Natural
Resource Use and Mining Industries at the Ministry of Trade and
Economic Development.
“Of course, an increase in production will lead to environmental
problems, the appearance of Kajaran will change, the mountains will
equal the town and there may be a need to move the town. But we will
become the first in the world for molybdenum production. We can say it
is inhuman but productive business can’t be done another way,” he says.
Klement Hakobyan, the head of the Kapan Mining Metallurgy and
Enrichment Laboratory, also believes the consequences may be grave
for the town.
“If the mine is exploited on a larger scale than environmental
catastrophes will be inescapable. It means that the amount of emissions
and waste will increase: the air and water will be contaminated,”
he explains.
According to data for 2004 from the Ministry of Environmental
Protection, the River Voghji, which runs through Kajaran, is
contaminated with nitrite, ammonium, copper, sulfate ions and
petroleum products.
The head of Environmental Protection at the ministry, Aram Gabrielyan,
states “no monitoring is made of the influence of the plant on the
environment”. That is to say, the ministry is content to accept the
data the plant provides.
“As a result of short term studies by the Ministry in 2004 it was
found that the activities of the plant have caused significant damage
to the environment. Consequently the Ministry obliged the plant to
reimburse the damage with 20 million drams,” says Rosa Julhakyan,
head of Accounting and Analysis Department.
Mayor Gevorgyan asserts that the environmental situation in the town
is regularly studied and no serious problems have been found. He says:
“Last year, the municipality invited the Eco-Balance organization
to study the ecological situation in the town. We were glad all the
results were positive.”
Gor Petrosyan, director of Eco-Balance, presents a different
picture. The organization was invited by the Mayor to conduct an
environmental survey in Kajaran and Kapan, but he says the mayor
intervened shortly afterwards to prohibit the continuation of the
survey.
“I was prohibited from studying the environment in Kajaran, but I
can say for certain that the situation is not just dangerous, but
terrible. This kind of ruthless exploitation of nature will have
tragic consequences,” says Petrosyan.
“The major problems are connected with the wastes poured into
gorges. Those agents are very mobile and if the waist tail storages
ever move and cause landslides, the local population will disappear. I
think the heavy metal in agricultural products will also exceed
the allowed norms and that will, of course, significantly impact on
people’s health.”
Srbuhi Harutyunyan, the President of the Social-Environmental
Association, who was also prohibited from continuing the research,
holds the same opinion.
“In 2004 the Mayor invited us to Kajaran to develop environmental
programs. We went there and got acquainted with the situation. But
when we said that we needed to focus on the influence of the copper
and molybdenum plant, they prohibited the studies.
“Both before privatization and after, there was no evaluation of
the influence of the plant on the environment. Wastes from the
industries are continuously poured into the River Voghjy without
necessary cleaning.”
Gorges near to the villages of Gharazam, Pukhrut, Voghji and Atsvanik
have served as plant waste tail storages since the 1970s. The first
three have been re-cultivated and are covered with topsoil of 50-60cm,
and today only the Artsvanik storage is operating.
“Big sums of money have been invested over the years to re-cultivate
the waste and cover it with a soil layer to avoid damaging the
environment. Trees have been planted on the territory; people cultivate
the land and rest there,” says Maxim Hakobyan.
Vladik Martirosyan worries most that attempts to use the re-cultivated
soil layer will result in landslides. He says: “In previous times,
people cultivated those lands, but now it is prohibited: those lands
can’t be irrigated, otherwise there may be landslides.”
Hakob Sanasaryan, President of the Union of Greens of Armenia, says
two key issues face Kajaran; the volume of open cast mining that is
destroying the ecosystem, and the amount of industrial waste.
“According to the data we have, nearly 90 million cubic meters of
waste are piled up there. It means that the pastures and the forests
will be useless for hundreds of years. Very aggressive agents are
moved there though pipes that frequently explode,” says Sanasaryan.
“Those agents mixed with rain and snow waters reach into the
lithosphere waters. That is both soil and water are contaminated. Since
the River Voghjy provides drinking water to the marz, people can
become carriers of dozens of illnesses.”
Sanasaryan continues: “I can vividly remember how Artsvanik was
destroyed, when industrial wastes began being poured into storage
there. Many gardens dried up, animals began dying. Many kinds of
chemicals and dangerous heavy metals have been poured into the
surroundings in an activated state and this has continued for over
30 years.”
Anahit Davtyan, a laboratory researcher at the Yerevan Center for
Hygienic and Epidemic Control, says toxic substances in irrigation
water easily affect people’s health.
“People do not drink that water, but dangerous combinations transfer
from the water into plants, from plants to animals, from animals to
people. As a result people get numerous illnesses,” she says.
The management of the plant now seem concerned about the health
of Kajaran’s inhabitants. Contracts have been signed with a number
of Yerevan hospitals to treat people working in the plant and their
families for free if needed. However, this has provoked irony rather
than happiness in the people.
“It seems like the plant makes people ill and then pays for them to
have treatment. It’s a kind of eyewash. We ordinary residents have no
alternative: either keep silent or lose the means of living. Complaints
would bring nothing: that’s for sure,” assures Seda, a 50-year-old
inhabitant of Kajaran.