Our mining mafia keeps secret that there are uranium and thorium deposits in the country, says Hakob Sanasaryan, President of the Green Union of Armenia.
He points to the Nature Protection Ministry's reply to the Meghri City Council's complaint to the President that despite bad ecological conditions in the Meghri region, the Ministry has issued exploration and development licenses for 14 more deposits.
"The Ministry refuted the Council's warning that the Lichq, Tashtun and Lichtqvaz-Tey deposits have high content of uranium and thorium. But there are lots of materials confirming the presence of uranium deposits in Armenia. One of them is the uranium exploration and extraction agreement signed by Armenia and Russia. All this proves that the Ministry is trying to mislead the public so as to be able to develop deposits containing scattered uranium despite their potential risks for human health and nature," Sanasaryan said.