Friday, October 29 2021 19:05

ArmInfo.The construction of a large copper smelter requires a large amount of energy resources, for the satisfaction of which new opportunities are needed. Deputy  Prime Minister of Armenia Suren Papikyan stated this in an interview  with Public Television. In this regard, he said that today Armenia is  studying the possibilities of building new small-scale modular units  with a capacity of 55 and 100 MW.

When asked why 15% of ZCMC shares were transferred to the government,  Papikyan referred to the statement of  head of the Board of Directors  of GeoProMining Roman Trotsenko, who said that in order to implement  a program of this scale, state support is needed in the person of a  partner. "When it comes to a new nuclear power plant, energy  resources, and other interrelated issues, it requires cooperation  between the private and public sectors, which has far-reaching goals.  That is, the Armenian economy is turning from an exporter of raw  materials into a manufacturer of the final product, which will  ultimately lead to the development of metallurgy and other areas of  industry, '' the Deputy Prime Minister said.

To remind, in October it became known that the shareholder of 60% of  the shares of Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC), GeoProMining  Company, will build a copper smelter in Armenia - a smelter. The  construction site has not yet been determined. If the plans are  implemented, the total volume of accumulated investments may reach $  3.5 billion.

As stated in a joint statement by GeoProMining and the Armenian  government, Roman Trotsenko announced plans to expand cooperation  with the government of the Republic of Armenia. "Any major  development in the mining industry is usually associated with the  interaction of business and the state. This is a common practice when  the state participates in the capital of a large mining company,  because many issues in the development of an enterprise are limited  to the state. These are mining and land allotments, large-scale  construction, including transport, social infrastructure. Therefore,  if we take the majority of large mining companies in the world, we  will see the state acts as a shareholder; therefore we have developed  a plan for the development of the copper industry in Armenia and  considered that the RA government should be a participant, a  shareholder of the enterprise. It was our thoughtful, balanced  decision and we are glad that the government responded to our plan,  approved it and made a decision to enter the capital, "Roman  Trotsenko said. Trotsenko said.