ArmInfo. Vallex Group of Companies recognizes as invalid the notifications previously submitted to employees of Armenian Copper Programme" CJSC (ACP), which owns the Alaverdi Copper Plant that was shut down at the end of last year, about the breakdown of labor relations since February 28, 2019.
As stated in the statement of the Vallex group of companies, the new notifications will set a deadline for the termination of labor relations - April 30, 2019, and will pay for the losses of the company's employees from the personal funds of the president of the Vallex group. In particular, according to the source, for the specified period, all personnel of Armenian Copper Programme" CJSC will be paid a salary in the amount established by law for the remuneration of an employee who is in a forced idle time through no fault of the employee in the amount of two thirds of the average hourly wage.
rrThis decision, as noted by the Vallex group of companies, is due to the high level of social responsibility in relation to the population of those communities in whose territory the production facilities are located, as well as the desire to prevent a possible deterioration in the socio-economic situation of the population of neighboring communities.
At the same time, the Vallex group will continue its efforts to find ways to restart the work of ACP. "Paying wages to the staff of a non-operating company, we aim to preserve the solidarity of qualified employees, which we consider necessary to re-establish the company's activities and ensure social stability in the long term, as well as to put the Vallex group's program to open a new modern copper smelter" , - contained in the statement of the Vallex group of companies.
To recall, on October 19, the work of the Alaverdi copper smelter was suspended for the 4th time during its 250-year history. The main cause of environmental problems, violations of permissible emissions of sulfur dioxide by the enterprise, as a result of which the company was fined 380 million drams ($ 700 thousand) and it was ordered to reduce emissions by 90% until December 25 of the current year. The problem is complicated by the fact that the enterprise's property complex is secured by a loan of $ 500 million for the development of the large Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit, the operation of which was also discontinued due to environmental problems last year after co-financing was suspended by one of the foreign lenders. Under these conditions, servicing the loan becomes extremely unaffordable for the enterprise and a serious decrease in the level of profitability of the Alaverdi plant, in fact, may lead to its bankruptcy. According to independent experts, the company had previously worked to bypass tough environmental rules thanks to informal agreements with the relevant government agencies in order to ensure the production and export of blister copper and the preservation of jobs. To note, Vallex Group was established in 1998 and includes 20 subsidiaries and affiliates. Among them is Teghut CJSC, founded in May 2006, 100% of the shares of CJSC belong to Teghut Investments Limited of Cyprus, 100% of whose voting shares in turn belong to Armenian Copper Program CJSC, which is fully owned by group president Valery MMejlumyan, and also CJSC Base Metals, which operates a copper-gold deposit in the village of Drmbon, Martakert region, NKR, Armenian Copper Program (ACP) CJSC, which operates the Alaverdi Copper Smelting Plant