Friday, March 27 2015 13:11

195 residents of Mets Ayrum rural community have addressed a letter to Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan over the situation around the tailing dump of the Akhtala Mining Plant. The letter has also been sent to all parliamentary groups of Armenia, the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection and the Standing Parliamentary Commission for Agriculture and Environment. 

The letter expresses concerns about the Government's decision to change the category of farming lands into industrial lands in the light of construction of a new tailing dump of the Akhtala Mining Plant on an area of 40 hectares. The letter stresses that despite the discontent of the Mets Ayrum residents, on March 26, 2015, the administration of Mets Ayrum made a positive decision on that issue.        

Meanwhile, the exploitation conditions of the tailing dumps in Akhtala and Mets Ayrum fail to meet the main environmental and safety standards and endanger the health of the local population.    

In addition, the rural residents have repeatedly complained of their deteriorating health due to the impact of the Nahatak tailing dump. The authors of the letter specify that the community people receive no compensation for the damage inflicted to their health and environment.    

In this light, the residents of Mets Ayrum come out against construction of the new tailing dump and urge the Akhtala Mining Plant to solve the problems related to re-cultivation and safety norms at the old tailing dumps. In addition, the residents demand declaring the Feb 26, 2015 decision null and void.     
On March 24 and 25, a group of independent experts from Yerevan monitored the situation in the areas adjacent to the Akhtala Mining Plant. At a press conference on March 27, expert Seyran Minasyan said that the group revealed tails in Alaverdi, Akhtala and Mets Ayrum. The current management of the Akhtala Mining Plant takes no measures to clean the specified areas from the tails.   

The operating Nahatak tailing dump of the Mining Plant is also criticized. The surveys conducted since 2013 have revealed that the lead content in the 60-70% of peaches in Mets Ayrum is 2-4-fold higher than the maximum admissible limit.  

To note, in summer 2014 the former director general of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine Maxim Hakobyan became the new owner of the Akhtala Mining Plant. The plant had previously belonged to the Metal Prince Ltd.