ArmInfo.The Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia is negotiating with the European Union to attract a grant of 5 million euros to solve the problems of tailing drumps. Minister of Nature Protection of Armenia, Eric Grigoryan, announced this on February 21 at a government meeting.
According to him, according to the new program, it is envisaged to carry out the recultivation of the land around the tailing dumps inherited from the Soviet times. The project also plans to monitor the state of the air.
To note, in Armenia there are 22 tailing dumps, of which 8 are closed and 13 continue to operate. Back in 2014, the Ministry of Energy of Armenia submitted a project for processing tailing dumps of metal mines, estimated at $ 200 million. Then a memorandum of intent was approved, in accordance with which the government planned to implement a corresponding program jointly with Cronimet Mining JSC, Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine CJSC , VSEI group of companies and ALYOTIG LLC. The project proposed to carry out efficient and deep processing of tailings and dumps of rocks formed during the extraction of metallic minerals. In May 2015, the government returned to this issue by approving the draft law "On the investment program for processing industrial waste accumulated and accumulated in the tailing drumps of Vokhchi, Pkhrut, Artsvanik, as well as, as a result of the activities of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC). However, this since it was no longer about 200, but about $ 240 million of investments necessary for the construction of a plant for processing tailing dumps from metal mines in Armenia. The bill noted that in ZCMC tailing dumps moment have accumulated more than 300 million tons of industrial waste annually replenished by another 18-20 million tons, creating a serious environmental problem.
The implementation of the program was entrusted to ALYOTIG LLC, which undertook to build a plant for processing industrial waste tailings with a production capacity of 12.5 tons annually, and at the second stage covering the time interval in 2019-2025 to bring the capacity of the plant to the processing volumes of 25 million tons of waste. At the end of June 2015, the National Assembly passed a law on an investment program for processing industrial waste from Vokhchi, Pkhrut, Artsvanik's storage facilities, as well as from the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, in accordance with which ALYOTIG received the named storage. However, six months after the adoption of the law, it became known that ALYOTIG LLC had managed to go bankrupt in the past short time. As a result, a large-scale investment project was never implemented.