Minister: Investment program of development of Teghut copper and molybdenum deposit in Syunik marz continues

ArmInfo. The investment program for the development of the Teghut copper and molybdenum deposit in the Syunik region of Armenia continues. The Minister of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia, Suren Karayan, stated this during the meeting of the RA National Assembly deputies with members of the government on February 28 in response to the statement of MP from the opposition Elk faction Mane Tandilyan about the appearance of problems in the implementation of this investment program.

Tandilyan recalled that in 2007, under the auspices of the then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, the program for the development of the field with the involvement of large Russian credits was solemnly presented.  Now it turns out that the implementation of the program caused problems that led to the closure of the deposit and the failure to fulfill credit obligations. "In this connection, there is a question of guarantees from the state, and how the problem will affect the country's economy," the deputy noted.

In response, the Minister stressed that at present two international organizations are conducting research on the state of tailing dumps for compliance with environmental standards and further safe exploitation of the deposit. After carrying out the research, there will be a need to carry out works in the modernization of the tailing dumps, after which the project will be continued. "No state guarantees have been provided, and after the modernization the program will develop," Suren Karayan assured, adding that the exploitation of the field, which began in 2014, will be continued, and there are no problems in this issue.

Earlier, the Minister of Nature Protection Artsvik Minasyan stated that the samples taken from the rivers Debed and Shnokh testify to the absence of permissible emission standards from the tailings dump of Vallex Group to these reservoirs.

The program on exploitation of the Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit was approved by the Armenian government in November 2007. By reserves, the Teghut deposit is the second in the republic after the Kajaran copper and molybdenum deposit in Syunik. In 1991, the approved reserves amounted to 450 million tons of ore, including 1.6 million tons of copper with 0.355% content and 99 thousand tons of molybdenum with 0.022% content. At the first stage of the Teghut program, it is planned to extract and process 7 million tons of ore per year. According to the average indicators for the first 10 years of production, about 64 thousand tons of copper concentrate with a copper content of up to 31% and about 760 tons of molybdenum concentrate with a molybdenum content of up to 50% will be produced per year.  The volume of investments for the first stage will be about $ 350 million.

As Valery Mejlumyan, president of Vallex Group of Companies, reported earlier, copper and molybdenum concentrates will be exported mainly to European countries. He drew particular attention to the fact that the Teghout project introduced the latest technologies, as well as implemented infrastructure reforms. As for the company's environmental programs, it was mentioned here that the afforestation program indicated that instead of 375 hectares of forest to be cut down for the development of the field, 714 hectares of forest will be planted. CJSC "Teghut" also pays attention to the protection of cultural and historical monuments located on the territory of Teghout.