ArmInfo. Mining industry of Armenia needs legislative reforms. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said this on March 28 at the plenary session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia when answering the question of MP from Prosperous Armenia faction Artur Grigoryan.
According to the lawmaker, who in the recent past headed the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, currently, 28 companies that have licenses cannot start developing metal deposits due to the lack of operating permits. Artur Grigoryan reminded that the mining industry occupied and occupies an important place in the country's economy.
In response, the Prime Minister pointed out the need for legislative regulation of the issue, especially in terms of environmental impact assessment, in order to avoid the emergence of new problems in the future. "This is extremely important so that in future not to attract international experts again and not allocate additional financial resources from the state budget for research," the head of government emphasized. In his opinion, in the mining industry it is necessary to form such a system that, on the one hand, would exclude all corruption risks, and on the other, would exclude all possible environmental impacts.
To note, the state balance of mineral reserves currently accounts for more than 670 solid mineral deposits with proven reserves, including 30 metal ones. For metallic minerals, there are 7 copper-molybdenum deposits, 4 copper, 14 gold and gold-polymetallic deposits, 2 iron ore and 1 aluminum ore. In the ore of deposits registered in the State Balance, in addition to base metals, rare elements and their placers were found: rhenium, selenium, telur, cadmium, indium, helium, tali, bismuth, and others. Currently, for the mining and metallurgical complex of Armenia, the final products are mainly concentrates (copper, molybdenum, zinc, in some cases - with a high content of gold and silver, in the near future - also lead concentrate), which does not allow to fully use the economic potential of the deposits . The organization of production for the processing of metallic minerals extracted in Armenia through a closed and final cycle - from extraction to the creation of finished products - will enable the production of products with a high cost, which can ensure a significant increase in GDP.