ArmInfo.The structure of the mining industry in Armenia is disturbing. This was stated by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on May 21 at the scientific conference "Basic Guidelines of the Economic Revolution in the Republic of Armenia" in Yerevan.
In particular, according to Pashinyan, 90% of the exports of the mining sector accounted for the concentrate. "This is a big problem for the country, which indicates that Armenia has the status of a mining and raw material country with all the ensuing consequences," he said.
As the Prime Minister pointed out, the government intends to "lengthen" the mining cycle as much as possible. "The Armenian government is discussing a number of investment projects in this direction, and I hope that at least one will become a reality," Pashinyan said. According to the head of the Cabinet, the decisive role in the development of the sphere is traditionally played by the conjuncture and long-term forecasts associated with the price of non-metal in the world market. But in this connection, as the prime minister pointed out, there are certain positive signals.
It should be noted that according to statistical data, the foreign trade turnover of Armenia in January-March 2019 amounted to 793.7 billion drams ($ 1,628.8 million) with an annual decline of 5%. As the Minister of Economic Development and Investments Tigran Khachatryan stated earlier, according to the observations of the Ministry of Economic Development, the mining sector has "surrendered" most of all - by 51 million US dollars, of which export of concentrates decreased by 20.1 million US dollars. Data situation, he said, is associated with lower prices and production rates. The latter is due to seasonality, that is, the planned stops of the mining companies in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the state balance of mineral reserves currently accounts for more than 670 solid mineral deposits with proven reserves, including 30 metallic. About 400 of these deposits are exploited, including 22 metallic. For metallic minerals, there are 7 copper-molybdenum deposits, 4 copper, 14 gold and gold- polymetallic deposits, 2 iron ore and 1 aluminum ore. There are also 15 tailing dumps in Armenia, where waste accumulated during the operation of mineral deposits, which exceed several million cubic meters and occupy a total area of about 700 hectares, is accumulated. At present, industrial wastes accumulated in tailings dumps, which are formed as a result of industrial mining and mineral processing, are not used, although they also contain significant amounts of polymetals