ArmInfo.At a meeting of the Public Council under the Ministry of Nature Protection today, the issue of efficient use of the resources of the Amulsar gold mine was discussed.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Nature Protection, Minister Artsvik Minasyan informed the members of the Public Council that a group of international experts led by Harutyun Bronozyan once again expressed a desire to meet with the experts of Lydian Armenia.
"International experts rejected the previous similar initiative, and the Ministry of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia was forced to hold a meeting only with Lydian Armenia experts in January 2018. We expect that objective arguments will be comprehensively presented at the meeting, provided that clear and tentative If you fail to do so, you can not constantly make statements on the same issue, not gaining anything from it, but only harming the process," Artsvik Minasyan said, adding that the meeting scheduled for early May will only take place with participation international experts and experts "Lydian Armenia", as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations.
Hakob Sanasaryan, a member of the Public Council, environmentalist, expressed concern over the fact that mining is being carried out near the rivers Arpa, Vorotan and the Vorotan-Darb inflow, which could have a significant negative impact on the region's water resources and, finally, on the quality of water in Lake Sevan. The expert raised the issue of the economic efficiency of the project, since the deposit is rich not only with gold and silver, but also with other valuable minerals and metals, but the license issued by Lydian Armenia provides for the extraction of only gold and silver.
Sanasaryan came to the conclusion that the project of exploiting the Amulsar deposit is incomplete and should be recognized as invalid. In his turn, Minister Artsvik Minasyan stressed that there are no prerequisites for the termination of the project, and the process of examination was carried out within the framework of the law.
The chairman of the NGO Ecolur Inga Zarafyan suggested conducting public monitoring to exclude the possibility of deviation from the project.
Representative of the company "Lydian Armenia" Armen Stepanyan invited those wishing to participate in the monitoring, which is already carried out with the participation of residents of neighboring communities.
Summing up the discussion, Artsvik Minasyan stressed that the voiced questions, on which no answers had been given, should be registered and thoroughly studied.