Wednesday, November 21 2018 14:52

ArmInfo. The issue of appointing a new operator for the operation of the Teghut  copper-molybdenum deposit is currently being discussed, Acting  Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia  Garegin Baghramyan stated on November 21 answering the question of  ArmInfo.

According to Baghramyan, the Teghut Mining Project was mortgaged with  a loan from VTB Bank. "Today Teghut's assets have become the property  of VTB and the process is under way to appoint a new field operator  from the bank's side," the acting Minister of Energy said. At the  same time, as Baghramyan noted, he is not yet aware of the candidates  who have expressed interest in the project.

A week earlier, in the Parliament of Armenia Acting Deputy Prime  Minister Tigran Avinyan said that the issue of restarting Teghut  deposit and attracting a new operator is being discussed.

The program of the Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit operation was  approved by the Armenian government in November 2007. In terms of  reserves, the Tekhut deposit is the second in the republic after the  Kajaran copper and molybdenum deposits in Syunik. Back in 1972,  large-scale geological exploration was carried out, which resulted in  confirmed reserves of 450 million tons of ore with a content of 1.6  million tons of copper and 99 thousand tons of molybdenum. The  suspension of the largest Teghut project due to environmental  problems at the end of last year had a negative impact on the  country's economy. The operation of the field can be continued only  after solution of a number of technical and environmental problems,  because of which the company in fact lost loan support. 

 Meanwhile, due to a serious violation of environmental legislation,  since October 19, 2018, the work of the Alaverdi Copper Smelter,  which produces blister copper using technologies from the middle of  the last century, was suspended.  The problem becomes more complex by  the fact that the property complex of the enterprise is secured by a  loan of $ 500 million, previously obtained from VTB Bank for the  development of the Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit. Under these  conditions, servicing a VTB loan becomes extremely unaffordable for  an enterprise and a serious decline in the level of profitability of  the Alaverdi plant, in fact, may lead to its bankruptcy.  To note,  Vallex Group CJSC was established in 1998 and unites 20  subsidiary  and affiliated companies. Among them, Teghut  CJSC,  founded in May  2006, 100% of the shares of CJSC belong to  Teghut  Investments  Limited Cyprus based company, 100% of which voting shares  in  turn  belong to Armenian Copper Program CJSC, which is fully owned  by   Valery Mejlumyan, and also CJSC "Base Metals", operating the    copper-gold deposit in the village of Drmbon, Martakert region, NKR,    Armenian Copper Program CJSC (ACP), operating the Alaverdi Copper    Smelter.