Cronimet Mining Company plans $200 million investments in the construction of mine tailings disposal facility at the Zangezour copper and molybdenum combine (ZCMC) in the south of Armenia
On 16 October, the Government approved a memorandum of intention that will allow launching the project. The memorandum will be signed between the Armenian Government, Cronimet Mining and ZCMC, VSEI Group and ALYOTI LLC.
Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Levon Shahverdyan introduced the draft decision sand said the Company will invest in design, construction and operation of the facility. The project will allow launching advanced waste processing (95%-98%), the deputy minister said. According to him, the business plan will be submitted within two months. "This project will be of great importance for Armenia and will allow creating 1800 new jobs," Shahverdyan said
Earlier, Vazgen Safaryan, Head of the Union of Local Producers of Armenia, told reporters that 1.5 billion tons of tails have been accumulated at tailing dumps in Armenia. In case of processing 82 million tons of tails per year, 10,000 tons of pyre refined copper, 3-4 million tons of iron, 250,000 tons of free sulphur, 170 tons of tellurium, 3.6 tons of gold, 142 tons of silver, as well as rhenium and other alloy materials could be recovered. Here are 17-19 metal-containing ore tailing dumps in Armenia and the tailings disposal facility could operate for 30 years.
To note, "Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine" CJSC is the largest mining enterprise in Armenia and exploits the Kajaran deposit, which is the richest in the CIS by its copper content. ZCMC was privatized for 132 mln USD on 14 December 2004. Afterwards, 60% of its shares passed into the ownership of Cronimet Mining (Germany), with the remaining 15%, 12.5% and 12.5% having gone to the Pure Iron Plant (Yerevan), "Armenian Molybdenum Production" CJSC and "Zangezur Mining" LLC, respectively.