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  • Reject Any Support For Mining In Amoulsar

    REJECT ANY SUPPORT FOR MINING IN AMOULSAR

    Nov 7, 2014

    Operation of Amoulsar Gold Mine is Yet Another Disaster to Armenia

    Call Upon All Armenians To Reject Any Support For Mining in Amoulsar
    (Jermuk)

    Yerevan,

    October 6, 2014

    Amoulsar is one of the peaks of the Armenian highlands, a mountain
    3000m above the sea level, located between Vayots Dzor and Syunik
    regions of Armenia and only 10 km away from one of the gems of Armenia,
    hydrological wonder Jermuk.

    When gold exploration started in Amoulsar in 2006, the Armenian public
    could not imagine what kind of risks the mining project could possibly
    pose to the regions of Vayots Dzor, Syunik, and Gegharkunik, as well
    as Armenia on the whole. These risks have already been identified
    and have been continuously voiced by the civil society and local
    communities for over 3 years. Since 2011, 3 scientific conferences,
    5 official public hearings, as well as many press conferences have
    been organized on mining of Amoulsar during which many geologists,
    hydrologists, economics, botanists, zoologists, doctors and other
    specialists expressed their disapproval and fear of uncontrollable
    risks. Many articles and publications were written, despite the narrow
    space in the Armenian media given to this issue. While media coverage
    of these events was limited, the PR strategies of Lydian International
    and its subsidiary in Armenia, Geoteam CSJC succeeded in silencing
    criticism of the mining project in the mainstream media in Armenia.

    Despite the claims of Lydian's executives that they are going to
    engage in "responsible mining", their statements cannot be grounded by
    any fact of past performance as this is a new company with no track
    record of mining operation. "Responsible mining" is also incongruent
    with this particular project, as open-pit mining with such high risks
    for the environment, economy and livelihood of local communities can
    in no way be considered "responsible."

    We are aware that the company is conducting intensive PR in the
    Armenian Diaspora convincing Armenians around the world to buy shares
    of their company and finance this disastrous mining project.

    Armenians all around the world can only serve their homeland by calling
    for a moratorium of any new mining project in Armenia, including the
    ones in Amulsar, Teghut, Meghri, Hrazdan and other areas, and adoption
    of strict environmental and taxation regulations to contain the harm
    threatening our homeland and future generations.

    Armenians all around the world should exert efforts in pushing for
    Amoulsar be included in Jermuk National Park, a protected area that
    will be created soon, but overpasses the mountain for obvious reasons.

    While the international quest for the natural resources of Armenia
    continues and is tilted towards Russia, we in Armenia need support to
    withstand all sorts of international pressure and extractive slavery.

    Two large international financial institutions, the International
    Financial Corporation of the WB Group and the European Bank for
    Reconstruction and Development are discussing financing this project
    alongside holding some of the shares of Lydian International. These
    institutions have already received 2 complaints from Armenia, one from
    9 organizations and another one from 200 members of Gndevaz community
    with a request to revoke financial support for this project, as it does
    not meet international standards promulgated by their own institutions.

    For all those who will have to hear the nicely-packaged PR of Lydian
    International, here are some guidelines to the risks of gold mining
    in Amoulsar.

    Amoulsar mountain and its surrounding area are of strategic
    hydrological importance for Armenia and are included in the water
    basin of Lake Sevan. Arpa and Vorotan rivers originate from this
    mountain and strip mining will not only disrupt formation of streams
    falling into these rivers, but will inevitably result in pollution
    of these streams and subsequently of these river basins with heavy
    metals already on surface (more than 1000 ha of land will change their
    landscape) . The fact that strip mining of Amoulsar is a threat to
    Lake Sevan was recognized by the Special Governmental Committee on
    Lake Sevan in 2012. Any activity with a possible negative impact on
    the ecosystem of Lake Sevan is prohibited by the Law on Lake Sevan.

    The open pit mining will also affect Darb river, which waters many
    vineyards and agricultural lands and feeds fish-farms down the stream.

    Please be aware that this is not yet processing of ore and the cyanide
    leach-pad which is yet another risk to the environment.

    No assessment is made on how the intensive explosions will affect
    the rock formations of Jermuk and its underground water resources
    (hot springs), located from 2km to 10 km away from the mine. It is
    also not assessed how the explosions will affect the highly vulnerable
    Vorotan-Arpa tunnel built specifically to save Lake Sevan. Jermuk hot
    springs have made Jermuk an international hot spring resort and not
    only will its reputation as a clean environment conducive to health
    recovery be at stake, but also the entire industries of agriculture,
    fish-farming, mineral water bottling and tourism.

    Amoulsar is in a high radiation zone, the ore samples show that
    concentration of radon exceeds 400 Bq/m3. Geological scientific data
    also show that Amoulsar mine is also rich in uranium. The company
    has presented no plan of managing this situation. The gold mine is
    also located only several km away from a large uranium mine. It is
    not assessed how the explosions will affect the highly dangerous
    uranium deposits. It is also not assessed at which depth does the
    uranium concentration increase. Overall, seismic assessments are not
    conducted for this mining project whereas the area is located in a
    10-point Richter scale zone.

    The impact of dust rich in heavy metals is not assessed at all. The
    measurement of wind direction is also falsified and is only measured in
    a wind station located in a gorge where there are only 2 directions,
    while in Amoulsar there are at least 4 directions for the wind. It is
    not assessed what impact the 700 tons of dust rich in heavy metals
    and generated on a yearly basis for 10 years will have on people's
    health, pastures, agricultural lands and biodiversity.

    Overall, no health impacts are assessed.

    Mining in Amoulsar will eventually be illegal as it is banned to mine
    in any area where there are Red-listed species of fauna or flora, as
    well as cultural and historical assets. It is a proven fact that this
    area has rich biodiversity with red-listed species, including 1 plant,
    18 species of birds (this is by the way an International Bird Area),
    reptiles and butterflies and 4 mammals. These facts have been proven by
    WWF Armenia and are confirmed by the environmental impact assessment
    of the company itself. The area is also rich with archaeological
    assets dating as back as the 3rdmillennium B.C. and they will be
    irreparably damaged as a result of explosions. No transfer of such
    cultural monuments has ever happened in Armenian mines.

    Gold concentration in the ore is officially only 0.8g per 1 ton,
    wherein larger amounts of lead, cadmium, arsenic and other toxic metals
    are going to be dumped in the air through dust and accumulated in a
    tailing dump or so-called "leach-pad". It is planned that more than
    122mln tons of solid waste and more than 342mln tons of liquid waste
    rich in cyanide will be deposited in one of the richest agricultural
    and touristic areas of Armenia. Their possible negative impact is
    not assessed and presented to the public. It is planned that during
    the 10 years of mining operation, more than 20,000 tons of highly
    toxic cyanide and 10,000 tons of hydrochloride acid is going to be
    transported and used for processing ore. And this is all for allegedly
    60 tons of gold.

    The costs and benefits of mining Amoulsar are not assessed at all,
    it is not assessed how much Armenia will lose economically from loss
    of agricultural lands, touristic industry and ecosystem services. In
    fact, mining is only a "heaven" for companies which pay miserably
    low taxes for profit, do not pay anything for the millions of tons of
    mining waste, do not pay environmental fees etc. Taxation of mining
    in Armenia is one of the lowest in the world, and environmental
    regulation and inspection, one of the worst.

    The local communities will be under a strong social challenge by
    losing their traditional means of livelihood; agriculture, tourism,
    fish-breeding, they will engage in mining for only 10 years and
    after 10 years they will never be able to return to their previous
    livelihood: their lands will have been seized and under mining
    infrastructure, their environment will be polluted and no longer good
    for agriculture and tourism, the women of the communities will be left
    jobless while the men will only work in the mines for 10 years. The
    community of Gndevaz is under the threat of resettlement, however
    neither the company, nor the government speak of this. This village
    will only be less than 2 km away from the gold processing plant and
    all heavy trucks will daily transport the rocks through the village,
    which inevitably will make the village uninhabitable.

    Aside from these facts, all potential investors should bear in mind
    that we, as civil society aspiring for democracy, rule of law and
    the right of our population to live in a healthy and prosperous
    environment, will do our best to deter operation of this and other
    mines by removal of potentially corruption-backed systems and regimes.

    Therefore, we call upon Armenians and non-Armenians around the world
    to use common sense and demonstrate a strong sense of responsibility
    towards the population living in Armenia and reject supporting mining
    operations in Armenia, particularly gold mining of Amoulsar.

    Save Teghut Civic Initiative

    Inga Zarafyan, President of EcoLur NGO

    Vazgen Galstyan, President of "Jermuk Development Center" NGO

    Tehmine Yenoqyan, journalist, resident of Gndevaz community

    Levon Galstyan, member of Pan-Armenian Environmental Front civic
    initiative

    http://teghut.am/en/2014/11/call-upon-armenians-to-reject-investments-amoulsar-mining-project-2/

    Download the letter here.

    http://teghut.am/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Call-upon-Diasporans-on-Amoulsar-and-Mining.pdf

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