Expert: The risks of the Amulsar program are underestimated, it needs  revision

ArmInfo. The risks of the Amulsar program are underestimated.  The deposit is dominated by rocks that absorb and emit acid, which threatens biodiversity, and  human health. This during a presentation on June 20, which presented  the results of a study of the documents of Lydian International,  which operates the gold deposit in Amulsar, said the American expert  on environmental issues, Dr. Anne Maest.

She noted that the company's statements that the exploitation of the  Amulsar deposit will not affect the quality of the mineral waters of  the resort town of Jermuk and other sources in adjacent territories  is surprising. The company gave its forecast for sewage from the  solid metal waste landfill, which, according to experts, does not  correspond to the results of the research. "We believe that there is  a need to re-evaluate the project and conduct a second study, in  particular geochemical rocks," A. Maest said, noting that rocks  containing high levels of sulphide were not investigated

The risk studies of Amulsar projects were commissioned by Harut  Bronozyan, a chemical engineer, an expert in the purification of  industrial waters, who lives in the United States. Answering  ArmInfo's question, he noted that the idea of such a study arose in  2014 in Los Angeles after a meeting with representatives of Lydian  International.

"We have no right to stop or close the deposit. We just submitted a  professional scientific report, as biochemical assessment and acid  drainage is the key object of research in the mining sector and is  considered a serious long-term environmental problem, "he concluded.

In particular, Dr. Andre Sobolevsky noted that an active purification  system using lime is needed to purify water, whereas Lydian  International provides for a passive system.

In addition, he noted that the company's costs for reclamation are  not sufficient to close the field. If the project fails, these  expenses will become a heavy financial burden for the Armenian  people. According to the expert, the government and the people of  Armenia must demand from Lydian International to prove their ability  to prevent outflow from acid drainage in order to avoid long-term  degradation of the environment.

Meanwhile, the expert of the American company Global Resource  Engineering, a qualified specialist of the relevant Canadian  legislation, Larry Breckenridge, who participated in the development  and implementation of the environmental management of the Amulsar  program, noted: "As an environmental specialist with 20 years of  experience in more than 10 mining programs, I'm very sorry that the  consultants of Arut Bronozyan have written a number of criticizing  reports on the Amulsar program, without taking part in any studies  conducted at the Amulsar field, without communicating with the  company's specialists and without discussing any issues with me. "

In particular, he noted that in 2018 experts attracted by Bronozyan  refused to participate in the round table discussions at the  invitation of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, preferring to  prepare the next report based on limited information and on the wrong  comments provided by the research company.

According to him, Lydian International published an assessment of  social and environmental impact in 2015 and 2016. After this, as it  was envisaged by the program, a huge work was done to manage the acid  drainage. "We have enough evidence that the methods we have chosen  are effective and by means of the best modern standards we will  manage any potential problem related to acid drainage rocks," the  expert stressed. In addition, he added that acid drainage is a  problem for all mining programs. "As we apply the best risk  management methods in the framework of the Amulsar program, it is in  the interests of all citizens to follow the application of these  methods in other mining programs. In this regard, I will be happy if  our work will help all stakeholders to be more aware of the existing  problem, "he concluded.

To recall, Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of the British Lydian  International, whose shareholders are also large international  institutional investors from the United States, Great Britain, a  number of European countries, including IFC and EBRD. The Amulsar  project is the largest industrial project in Armenia for the  development of the Amulsar gold deposit at a total cost of $ 370  million. In August 2016, a project for the construction and  development of the field was launched. Preliminary work has been  carried out since 2006.  The life of the Amulsar deposit will be 10  years and 4 months, an annual average of 200,000 ounces of gold  (about 10 million tons of ore) is planned. The company's shares are  quoted on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  Amulsar deposit is the second  largest in Armenia.