RA Deputy Prime Minister made a statement on the project of the  construction of a copper smelting plant presented by the Armenian  Copper Program CJSC

ArmInfo. "Armenian Copper Program" CJSC (ACP) presented to the RA government a new program for the construction of a copper smelter, which according to the project  will become one of the largest plants in the region.

As the press service of the government reports, RA Deputy Prime  Minister Tigran Avinyan noted that taking into account the existing  serious problems in the nature protection sphere of Armenia and the  previously voiced position of the government, the program will be  considered after clarification of two key issues.

On the first place in the statement of the vice-premier there is a  question on whether the company can, in reality, based on the best  international experience, minimize the impact on the environment and  ensure the export of industrial wastes from Armenia or start the  production of waste processing. At the same time, T.  Avinyan added:  "Will the field, without abuse during its operation, provide the  plant with the necessary amount of raw materials."

According to the source, a working group has been formed to receive  replies and to evaluate the program, the results of which will be  published additionally.

Vallex Group (Vallex Group) was established in 1998 and unites 20  subsidiaries and affiliated companies.  Among them, Teghout CJSC,  founded in May 2006, owns 100% of the shares of CJSC Teghout  Envestments Limited, of which 100% of voting shares are owned by  Armenian Copper Program CJSC, owned entirely by Valery Mejlumyan, the  president of the group, and CJSC "Base Metals", which operates a  copper-gold deposit in the village of Drmbon in the Martakert region  of the Artsakh, CJSC Armenian Copper Program (ACP), which operates  the Alaverdi copper smelter, which produces blister copper. The  program on exploitation of the Teghout copper-molybdenum deposit was  approved by the Armenian government in November 2007. By reserves,  the Teghout deposit is the second in the republic after the Qajaran  copper and molybdenum deposit in Syunik. Back in 1972, large-scale  geological exploration work was carried out here, which confirmed the  reserves of 450 million tons of ore containing 1.6 million tons of  copper and 99,000 tons of molybdenum. At the same time, the largest  Teghout project due to environmental problems at the end of last year  was suspended. The exploitation of the field can be continued only  after solving a number of technical and environmental problems,  because of which the company, in fact, lost credit support.