Sargis Shahazizyan: If the operation of Amulsar is considered  catastrophic from environmental point of view, then 90% of mining  enterprises should have been suspended 

ArmInfo. If the operation of the Amulsar project is considered disastrous from an environmental point of view, then 90% of mining enterprises should have been  suspended. Such an opinion was expressed by the former Minister of  Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia, Advisor to the Director  of the Institute of Geology of the National Academy of Sciences of  Armenia Sargis Shahazizyan at a press conference on August 8.

He emphasized that he was familiar with the Amulsar program, which  consists of 900 pages, and examined the submitted documents. In  continuation of the above, S. Shahazizyan noted that the program is  divided into two parts: the first refers to the consequences, and the  second presents a program of measures in case these problems arise.  "It seems to me that a certain part of people read only the first  part," he said.

The expert, noting that the document was developed at a fairly high  professional level, emphasized in this context that no one in the  state had previously developed such programs.  At the same time, he  drew attention to another important problem in the mining industry of  Armenia. "If the state's share of each mine was at least 20-30%, we  would have a fairly impressive state budget," 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, Britain, several  European countries, including EBRD. The Amulsar project is the  largest industrial project in Armenia today for the development of  the Amulsar gold ore deposit with a total value of $ 370 million. In  August 2016, the project for the construction and development of the  deposit was launched. Preparatory work has been carried out since  2006. The life of the Amulsar deposit is 10 years and 4 months; an  average of 200 thousand ounces of gold (about 10 million tons of ore)  is planned to be mined annually. The company's shares are listed on  the Toronto Stock Exchange. Amulsar field is the second largest  reserve in Armenia.