Ministry of Nature Protection discussed "Amulsar" operation program  

ArmInfo.At a meeting of the Public Council under the Ministry of Nature Protection today, the issue of efficient use of the resources of the Amulsar gold mine was  discussed.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Nature Protection,  Minister Artsvik Minasyan informed the members of the Public Council  that a group of international experts led by Harutyun Bronozyan once  again expressed a desire to meet with the experts of Lydian Armenia.

"International experts rejected the previous similar initiative, and  the Ministry of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia was  forced to hold a meeting only with Lydian Armenia experts in January  2018. We expect that objective arguments will be comprehensively  presented at the meeting, provided that clear and tentative If you  fail to do so, you can not constantly make statements on the same  issue, not gaining anything from it, but only harming the process,"  Artsvik Minasyan said, adding that the meeting scheduled for early  May will only take place with participation international experts and  experts "Lydian Armenia", as well as representatives of  non-governmental organizations.

Hakob Sanasaryan, a member of the Public Council, environmentalist,  expressed concern over the fact that mining is being carried out near  the rivers Arpa, Vorotan and the Vorotan-Darb inflow, which could  have a significant negative impact on the region's water resources  and, finally, on the quality of water in Lake Sevan. The expert  raised the issue of the economic efficiency of the project, since the  deposit is rich not only with gold and silver, but also with other  valuable minerals and metals, but the license issued by Lydian  Armenia provides for the extraction of only gold and silver.

Sanasaryan came to the conclusion that the project of exploiting the  Amulsar deposit is incomplete and should be recognized as invalid. In  his turn, Minister Artsvik Minasyan stressed that there are no  prerequisites for the termination of the project, and the process of  examination was carried out within the framework of the law.

The chairman of the NGO Ecolur Inga Zarafyan suggested conducting  public monitoring to exclude the possibility of deviation from the  project.

Representative of the company "Lydian Armenia" Armen Stepanyan  invited those wishing to participate in the monitoring, which is  already carried out with the participation of residents of  neighboring communities.

Summing up the discussion, Artsvik Minasyan stressed that the voiced  questions, on which no answers had been given, should be registered  and thoroughly studied.