ArmInfo. The results of the study of the stability of the dam of the Teghut tailing dump will be known in 2020. On December 4, RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan stated this in parliament, presenting the Government's response to the request of the Bright Armenia faction.
He recalled that Teghut CJSC was invited to conduct new studies regarding the sustainability of the tailings dam, and at the moment these works are being carried out by the Bulgarian company. "The work started in September, and it will take 6-7 months to summarize the results," Avinyan informed. According to him, the relevant structures had previously studied the status of the tailings, and there were no conclusions that the dam posed any danger.
The Deputy Prime Minister also said that next year inspections by the inspection body will be carried out at the Teghut mine.
To recall, the program for the operation of the Teghut copper-molybdenum mine was approved by the Armenian government in November 2007. By reserves, the Teghut mine is the second in the republic after the Kajaran copper and molybdenum mine in Syunik. Back in 1972, large-scale geological exploration work was carried out here, according to the results of which reserves of 450 million tons of ore with a content of 1.6 million tons of copper and 99 thousand tons of molybdenum were confirmed. Due to environmental problems, the project was suspended in February 2018, which had a negative impact on the country's economy.
As previously reported, the Bulgarian company is conducting an engineering geological and hydrogeological study of the stability of the tailings and dams at the initiative of Teghut CJSC.
Meanwhile, the status of the dam of the Teghut tailings mine was thoroughly investigated back in 2017, and then foreign experts came to the unequivocal conclusion that it functions with serious flaws. The dam is gradually eroded from the inside and may break through in the near future. Actually, these expert assessments formed the basis for the termination of financing of the Teghut project by one of the western lenders, because of which the mine had to be suspended in 2018.