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WHY INTERNATIONAL MINING COMPANIES FLOCK TO ARMENIA
Monday, April 7th, 2014
A gold mine in Armenia
BY MARINE MARTIROSYAN
>From Hetq.am
YEREVAN--A report recently released by two environmental activists
in Armenia suggests that international mining companies are flocking
to Armenia because the government is incredibly lax when it comes to
levying environmental usage fees.
The report, "Environmental and Environment Usage Payments in the Mining
Sector" was prepared by Marineh Baghdasaryan, a graduate of the State
Institute of Economics, and Bedya BGO President Erik Grigoryan.
Comparing Armenia's mining sector with that of the USA, Great Britain
and Germany, the authors found that another probable attraction for
international companies is that the royalties for extracting metal
ores in Armenia is much less.
In the United States, for example, royalties paid by mining companies
to the government stand at 30%, followed by Canada (25%), Great Britain
(20%), Great Britain (15.8%) and China (10%).
In Armenia, the royalty rate is 4+%.
Baghdasaryan says that other countries also tax pollution discharges
while Armenia does not.
"Our comparative data shows that strict tax mechanisms operate in
other countries and that responsible mining is the norm, something that
isn't the case in Armenia. Here, it's an open wide sector and creates
a favorable business climate for foreign investors," Baghdasaryan said.
Their report was made public at an international conference
"Responsible Mining in Armenia: Opportunities and Challenges" held
in the Armenia Marriott Hotel in Yerevan this past March 25.
At the conference opening, opponents of unbridled and unsupervised
mining in Armenia staged a counter-conference outside the hotel.
Baghdasaryan noted that while the largest taxpayer in Armenia is
the Zangezour Copper-Molybdenum Combine (paying 37.8 billion AMD in
taxes in 2013), only a tiny portion is in the form environmental and
natural resource usage fees.
http://asbarez.com/121591/why-international-mining-companies-flock-to-armenia/
Monday, April 7th, 2014
A gold mine in Armenia
BY MARINE MARTIROSYAN
>From Hetq.am
YEREVAN--A report recently released by two environmental activists
in Armenia suggests that international mining companies are flocking
to Armenia because the government is incredibly lax when it comes to
levying environmental usage fees.
The report, "Environmental and Environment Usage Payments in the Mining
Sector" was prepared by Marineh Baghdasaryan, a graduate of the State
Institute of Economics, and Bedya BGO President Erik Grigoryan.
Comparing Armenia's mining sector with that of the USA, Great Britain
and Germany, the authors found that another probable attraction for
international companies is that the royalties for extracting metal
ores in Armenia is much less.
In the United States, for example, royalties paid by mining companies
to the government stand at 30%, followed by Canada (25%), Great Britain
(20%), Great Britain (15.8%) and China (10%).
In Armenia, the royalty rate is 4+%.
Baghdasaryan says that other countries also tax pollution discharges
while Armenia does not.
"Our comparative data shows that strict tax mechanisms operate in
other countries and that responsible mining is the norm, something that
isn't the case in Armenia. Here, it's an open wide sector and creates
a favorable business climate for foreign investors," Baghdasaryan said.
Their report was made public at an international conference
"Responsible Mining in Armenia: Opportunities and Challenges" held
in the Armenia Marriott Hotel in Yerevan this past March 25.
At the conference opening, opponents of unbridled and unsupervised
mining in Armenia staged a counter-conference outside the hotel.
Baghdasaryan noted that while the largest taxpayer in Armenia is
the Zangezour Copper-Molybdenum Combine (paying 37.8 billion AMD in
taxes in 2013), only a tiny portion is in the form environmental and
natural resource usage fees.
http://asbarez.com/121591/why-international-mining-companies-flock-to-armenia/