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IN ARMENIA ZOÏ REPORT 3 / 2012
MINING
Spandarian reservoir, Syunik Province, ArmeniaPhotography: © Alban Kakulya
4 . . .
The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the contributory organizations. The designations employed and the presentations do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the contributory organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, company or area or its authority, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
ISBN 978-2-940490-05-9
Zoï REPORT 3/2012 Otto Simonett (Editor)
This report was prepared by:Christina Stuhlberger (Zoï Environment Network)
Text:Vicken Cheterian (CIMERA, Geneva)
Maps: Matthias Beilstein (Zoï Environment Network)
Design and Layout: Carolyne Daniel (Zoï Environment Network)
Language editing: Geoff Hughes (Zoï Environment Network)
Contributors: Karen Arzumanyan, Davit Androyan, Garik Chilingaryan, John Cole-Baker, Gohar Ghazinyan, William Hanlon
Photography: © Alban Kakulya
Mining in Armenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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5. . .
About the project ... 6
Summary ... 7
Underground riches ... 9
From Bust to Boom ... 10
Mining sites in Armenia ... 15
→ Akhtala ... 16
→ Kapan ... 19
→ Agarak ... 19
→ Kajaran ... 21
→ Alaverdi ... 21
→ Teghut ... 22
→ Ararat and Zod ... 22
Mining and the environment ... 26
Conclusion ... 29
Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6 . . .
About the project
Over the past years, the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC) partners, in collaboration with development agencies and the private sector, have contributed to the enhancement of technical capacities in the sustainable management of mining and minerals processing operations via large-scale assessment works such as in South-East Europe. Furthermore, the ENVSEC initiative has provided assistance in the spreading of best practices for mining activities, procedures and regulations. As a result, the initiative has also stimulated additional investments from governments, the donor community and the private sector aimed at improvement of economic development conditions and reduction of risks related to mining sites. In 2010—2011, the project “Strengthening capa city in environmental assessment and risk reduction at mining sites in Armenia” extended this work to the South Caucasus and successfully linked experiences and best practice from other regions with the unique challenges encountered at each site and regulatory framework in Armenia. This was made possible through close cooperation between the Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection, mining companies and local experts with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Together, they gathered information, organized platforms for capacity-building and advanced the concept of more sustainable mining in Armenia. The project was supported by Zoi Environment Network.
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7. . .
Summary
Since 2000, the Armenian mining sector has been in rapid expansion, a development that Armenians have received with enthusiasm, but one that forces them to rethink the way they want to capitalize on their natural resources. Increases in global demand for copper, gold, molybdenum and other valuable metals will increase the demand and investments in Armenia’s mining sector. The risk is that only a few will benefit while others will bear the consequences – unequal distribution of income, substandard working conditions, massive environmental damage and the potential destruction of livelihoods. To meet these challenges Armenia’s mining sector needs to open up to public scrutiny, end collusion between politicians and the mining industry and reinvest part of the industry income in local communities and in public health and environmental projects. Armenia has the opportunity to steer this process into a direction that would maximize benefits for the entire country by building a socially responsible mining sector that could be the basis for sustainable economic development in Armenia.
← Copper smelting at Alaverdi, Lori Province, Armenia Photography: © Alban Kakulya
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8 . . .
9. . .
Underground riches
Despite its limited access (Armenia is landlocked and two of its four borders are under blockade), Armenia has a lot to offer to its neighbours and for that matter to the rest of world. Thanks to the volcanic activity caused by the geologic convergence of Europe and Asia, Armenia has an abundance of minerals. The clashing of the Eurasian and Arabian plates created the Caucasus Mountains and accounts for the elevated seismic activity in the region. The same process delivered the abundance of minerals below the Armenian soil, flushed up from the depths by volcanic processes to the upper crust from where it has been extracted for centuries.
Armenian reserves of copper, molybdenum and gold far exceed those of other countries in the region, and their exploitation has constituted a major part of the national economy. The Kapan copper mine in Southern Armenia, for example, is one of the oldest continuously operating mines in the world, active since 1846 and still operating today. During the second half of the twentieth century, Armenia’s mines supplied almost a quarter of the Soviet Union’s molybdenum, and volcanic tuff was and still is the facing stone of choice for a significant proportion of the country’s buildings. The situation changed with the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the start of the 1990s, causing the Armenian economy to collapse as markets for its centrally planned industrial output disappeared. Nevertheless, minerals were still abundant and mining in Armenia slowly began functioning again in 1996, mainly triggered by foreign direct investment, both from Russia and other European countries, and from sources linked to Armenian expatriate communities in other parts of the world.
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← Farmers' market, Yerevan, Armenia (dismantled, March 2012) Photography: © Alban Kakulya
10 . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .From Bust to Boom
Armenia’s long history of mining goes back to the third millennium BC when copper and gold were mined in the Medzamor area north of Yerevan.1 As part of the Lesser Caucasus mountain chain, Armenia is rich in mineral deposits – iron, copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, zinc and others – as well as industrial stones such as marble and granite. In 1763 the first smelter was built in Akhtala, and in 1900 Armenia produced 20 per cent of the total copper of the Russian Empire. The economy of Soviet Armenia was based on heavy industry, including machine-building, chemical production and electronics. Mining was developed to provide raw material to local industries, as well as to export to other Soviet republics and to Zagranitsa. The two smelters in Alaverdi and in Kapan received considerable investments in the 1960s, reinforcing the Armenian mining sector. Armenian industry collapsed with the Soviet Union, and so did its mining sector. Several factors contributed to the collapse of mining, including the December 7, 1988, earthquake that struck northern Armenia killing more than 25,000 people and disrupting over 30 per cent of the country’s industrial production.
1 Sovedagan Hayasdan, Haygagan Sovedagan Hanrakidaran, (In Armenian: Soviet Armenia, Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia), Yerevan, 1987, page 255.
In the same period, the growing conflict between Armenia and its eastern neighbor, Azerbaijan, over Mountainous Karabakh disrupted rail links between the two countries. Moreover, a conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia cut the second railway connection between the north and south of the Caucasus, cutting off Armenia from its traditional economic partner, Russia.
Mining activities developed slowly throughout the 1990s as Armenia dealt with the process of privatization of Soviet public property. With the new millennium, the mining sector further revitalized with rising local demand for construction material, and later with rising metal prices on the global market. Foreign direct investments started to flow into the sector, and by the late 1990s and early 2000s the mining sector was effectively privatized. The sector tried to attract foreign investments to modernize the obsolete infrastructure and production lines with varied success. While some mines quickly resumed their function as the backbone of the regional economy, others failed completely to bring in the desired investments or to generate the expected jobs. In 2009, mineral exports constituted 40 per cent of the total exports of Armenia.2 Copper exports alone comprised 30 per cent of the total exports of the country in that same year.
2 Ruben Meloyan, “Armenia Learning from Crisis, Says World Bank”, Armenia Liberty, November 27, 2009: http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/1889521.html
11. . .
Today the development of the service, trade and construction sector in Armenia is still largely limited to its capital, Yerevan, while the mid-size industrial towns in the more remote areas continue their struggle to survive. In regions where mining is part of the local identity – such as Lori in the north or Syunik in the south – inhabitants welcome related activities, and consider mining to be essential to the regional economy. Government officials view mining as a panacea for the massive unemployment in provinces hard hit by economic ills, and in terms of attracting foreign direct investment, they may be right. Mining is the most rapidly growing sector of Armenia’s economy, and in 2010, growth in the mining sector contributed 32 per cent of the country’s overall GDP growth.3 Foreign-held mining companies are also a major source of tax revenues. In the first half of 2011, the German-held Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combinat paid 15 billion drams in taxes (US$ 41 million), becoming the nation’s top tax contributor.4 Mining exports are important for Armenia, a country with a large foreign trade deficit.
3 See: ”Contours of Armenia’s Economy in 2010: Mining Drives Growth” EV Periodical, April 2011, page 21: http://www.evconsulting.am/media/documents/BRAINWORK/EVPeriodi-cal/Issue2/EVPeriodicalIssue2_ContoursOfArmeniasEconomyIn2010_eng.pdf
4 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, ”Mining Giant Becomes Armenia’s Largest Taxpayer”, August 10, 2011: http://www.rferl.org/content/min-ing_giant_becomes_armenia_largest_taxpayer/24292236.html
Too much dependence on mining exports is not without risks, however. As a result of the 2008 global economic crisis the Armenian economy in 2009 shrank by over 14 per cent. The decline of global metal prices played a big role as some mines were shut down temporarily to limit economic losses due to unprofitable production. Other factors included decreases in remittances and a slowdown in the local construction sector. Also, a flourishing mining industry is not a guarantee for overall economic development. During the Soviet period mining products were processed in Armenia’s diverse industrial sector. Today Armenia exports raw materials and imports final products. This structural gap contributes to the growing foreign trade deficit of Armenia: in the first five months of 2011, Armenian exports totalled US$ 487.7 million, while imports in the same period were US$ 1.57 billion.5
5 Arka, ”Bagrat Asatryan: Armenia’s trade deficit believed to grow further”, July 14, 2011, available at: http://www.armbanks.am/en/2011/07/15/25277/
12 . . .Abandoned open cast mine with acid mine drainage in Kapan, Armenia
Photography: © Alban Kakulya
13. . .
14 . . .
Lake Sevan
MingachevirReservoir
ShamkirReservoir
Akhurian Res.
Lake Van
Lake Childir
Aras Reservoir
Kura
Alaz
ani
Iori
Debed
Aghstev
Tartar
Hakari
Vorotan
Arpa
Hrazdan
Kasa
k
Aras
Akhurian
Kotur
YerevanVagharshapat
Ashtarak
Chambarak
ArtsvashenBashkand
Metsamor
Aparan
Akyaka
Kars
Childir
Digor
Tuzluca
Kagizman
Igdir
Dogubeyazit
ErcishMuradiye
Chaldiran
Maku
Siah Chashmeh
Qareh Zia od Din
Tashlichay
Agri
GyumriSpitak
VanadzorDilijan
Ijevan
Tashir
Stepanavan
Ayrum
Marneuli
Rustavi
Bolnisi
KazretiDmanisi
Ninotsminda
Akhalkalaki
Maralik
Artik
Masis
Charentsavan
Sevan
Gavar
Martuni
Ganja
Qazax
Tovuz
Dedoplis TskaroQax
Shamkir
Goygol
AshagiAgchakand
Chailu
YeghegnadzorVayk
Jermuk
Sisian
Nakhchivan
Sharur
Julfa
Jolfa Ordubad
Shahbuz
BerddzorLachin
Goris
KaravacharKalbajar
AngeghtunQubadli
KovsakanZangilan
StepanakertKhankendi
ShushiShusha
Meghri
Vardenis
ArtashatVedi
Armavir
A R M E N I A
A Z E R B A I J A N
A Z E R B A I J A N
G E O R G I A
T U R K E Y
I R A N
Mount Aragats
Mount Ararat
Azhdahak
Dalidag
Qazangodag3829
4090
3597
3616
5137
Karabakh
Nagorno-
N a k h c h i v a n
L e s s e r C a u c a s u s
Akhtala
Shamlough
TeghutAlaverdi
MghartArmanis
HankavanMeghradzor
Toukhmanok
Hrazdan
Abovyan
Pure Iron Factory cjsc
AMP cjsc
Ararat Gladzor
Zod
Azatek
Marjan
DastakertArtzvanik
ShakhumyanKapanDarazam
VokchiKajaran
Aydedzor
Pkhrut
Terterasat
Agarak 1-3
Agarak
Lichkvaz Teyand Lichk
Geghanush
25 50 75 km0
Map produced by ZOÏ Environment Network, March 2012
Mining in ArmeniaProduction of metals, alloys and semi-finished products
Ore treatment plants
Mining site
Tailings deposit
15. . .
There are several major mining sites in Armenia each of which consists of a number of deposits and production facilities. In addition there are various deposits that are currently under exploration or prepared for exploitation. One of them is Teghut, which has met public resistance due to the environmental damage it causes. This section provides a short overview on Armenia’s prominent mining sites.
Mining sites in Armenia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Mining in ArmeniaProduction of metals, alloys and semi-finished products
Ore treatment plants
Mining site
Tailings deposit
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16 . . .
Akhtala
The copper mining operations in Akhtala are located in the very north of Armenia, close to the border with Georgia and Azerbaijan. Mining started here more than 250 years ago but stopped with the economic slowdown during the 1990s. The mining infrastructure in Akthala had largely been destroyed by 2001 when the mine was privatized and restored. Although the company succeeded in creating a steady output, operations at the site are based on exploiting what remains of the existing technologies rather than investing in new ones. In 2010, the mine employed about 600 people who produced about 1,000 tonnes per month of copper concentrate (21 per cent copper). There are two mines in Akthala – one an old underground mine established during Soviet times, the other an open pit mine that was created by the new owner at the beginning of his operations in 2001. At the current exploitation rate, the company estimates the lifetime of the open pit mine to be 25 years.
The company relies on three tailings dams – created and used during the Soviet era – for storing the toxic wastes resulting from the ore concentration process. In 2010, the company used two out of the three dams for its operations. Both of them, however, were already reaching their maximum capacity, and therefore the third dam was to be used, even though it had also almost exhausted its capacity during the Soviet period and now shows signs of structural weaknesses. Of the three dams, none features basic environmental protection installations such as surface water diversion, waste water circulation or land rehabilitation.
Retired tailings dam with signs of erosion and partial soil cover, Akhtala, Lori Province, Armenia →Photography: © Alban Kakulya
17. . .
18 . . .
19. . .
Kapan
The Southern city of Kapan is well-known for mines that produce gold, silver and several thousand tonnes of copper and zinc concentrate per year. A Canadian company, via its local subsidiary called Deno Gold, owns the local mining facilities, including one underground mine and two tailings storage facilities. Next to the modern mine sites, there are also many mining legacy sites – old mine shafts and unattended mine waste dumps.
The mining company had plans to extend the productivity of the Shahumian underground mine by converting it into an open pit mine. This would extend current production levels from 300,000 tonnes of ore per year to 1 million–10 million tonnes of ore per year. Where circumstances permit, open cast mining is generally an easier and cheaper way of operating a mine. On the other hand, open cast mining creates a greater environmental impact and interferes much more with land use and settlements.
In the case of the planned Shahumian open cast mine, inhabitants of Kapan town and the village of Shahumian are concerned about the impact the operations might have on their environment, in particular, the prospect of air pollution due to dust formation.
Agarak The town of Agarak (previously called Banavan) was founded in 1949 as a base for the local mining operations and workers. Today about 1,000 people work at the copper-molybdenum mine providing the main income for the 1,200 households in Agarak. In 2003 the Agarak mine was privatized and is currently owned by a Russian company. The town is located on the River Arax, which also forms the border between Armenia and Iran. Water from the Arax is crucial for local agriculture in the region: in Agarak alone Arax water irrigates about 140 hectares of farmland. Around Agarak and along the Arax river, there are several mine waste storage facilities, including three tailing dams that discharge their effluents into the Arax. The extent to which these effluents are affecting the water quality is currently unknown, but visual evidence indicates a need for closer investigation.
← 10th-century monastery and fortress on fringe of an active tailings dam in Akhtala, Lori Province, Armenia Photography: © Alban Kakulya
20 . . .
21. . .
Kajaran
The Kajaran Copper-Molybdenum Mine, the largest mining asset of Armenia, is vital to the regional economy. According to the Mayor’s office, the mining company employs about 60 per cent of the available workforce in Kajaran, a town of about 10,000 inhabitants in the southern Synik region.
In 2004, an international consortium led by a German mining company took ownership of the mine, an open pit operation that produces 12.8 megatonnes of ore annually, some of which is sold to Alaverdi, and some sent abroad for processing. The company target is to produce 18,000 tonnes of copper and 4,000 tonnes of molybdenum per year. The remnants of the ore extraction process are stored at several tailings dams, the largest of which is the Artzvanik tailings dam, which is also the largest in Armenia with a total capacity of 236 million cubic metres and a current fill level of 111 million cubic metres. Three retired tailings dams are covered with topsoil.
Alaverdi
Copper ore mined at Kajaran is sent to the copper smelter in Alaverdi in Armenia’s north. The only facility for copper smelting in Armenia, Alaverdi has a total capacity of 40,000 tonnes of copper concentrate per year. Despite its relatively small production volume, Alaverdi frequently raises concerns regarding the environmental damage it causes. The town is notorious for its polluted air and the high incidence of fatal diseases. According to plant management, there are currently no provisions in place to reduce the environmental impact from the smelter operations. Filters to capture dust and toxic fumes were once in place, but they have been out of order for years now without replacement. Similar problems can be found in other areas such as labour safety.
The company blames the absence of environmental protection measures on the lack of financial resources owing to the shortage of copper concentrate that the smelter receives to process. Because copper producing mines are not formally linked to the smelter, Alaverdi competes with foreign smelters for the copper concentrate from Kajaran and other mines. In order to relieve the dependency on external copper concentrate supply, the company that owns the Alaverdi smelter is currently developing a new mine in Teghut. The company has plans to refurbish and to increase smelter capacity in Alaverdi once the new mine is operational and a steady supply of copper concentrate is ensured.
← Armenia's largest tailings dam, Artzvanik, Syunik Province, Armenia Photography: © Alban Kakulya
22 . . .
Teghut
Since 2007, the company that owns the Alaverdi smelter has been developing a new open pit mine in the northern province of Lori. The area around Teghut village is estimated to contain 1.6 million tonnes of copper and about 100,000 tonnes of molybdenum. The mining company states that the operation will create more than 1,000 new jobs in the area for the coming 24 years. Despite the promising economic outlook, the project has led to opposition and the widespread mobilization of environmental groups in Armenia and beyond. Several hundred hectares of virgin forest cover the mineral reserve, and creating an open pit mine would destroy this precious ecosystem. Although underground mining is a feasible alternative that would spare the forest from being cut, the company asserts that underground – as opposed to open pit – mining is too costly to be profitable. Environmentalists predict that cutting the forest around Teghut would wreak havoc on Armenia’s green areas, which have already shrunk since the 1990s. The mobilization against the Teghut project expresses environmental concern, but has also social and political underpinnings. Despite the uproar among the local population and NGOs, the government gave the green light to the controversial project in 2008. The company has pledged to offset the damage by planting 400 hectares of trees in the vicinity of the new mine.
Ararat and Zod The privatization of mines has not always brought stability and jobs to local communities. A case in point is the Ararat Gold Recovery Company, which owns a gold processing plant in the town of Ararat to the south of Yerevan, as well as the Zod open pit gold mine near the Armenia–Azerbaijan border. Zod is considered the richest gold mine in the Caucasus but sits on the shores of Lake Sevan, the main freshwater reserve in Armenia. In 2008 Russian investors took control of the company with the hope of creating a new gold processing facility on Lake Sevan because transporting ore from Zod to Ararat was not profitable. But such hazardous activities are not permitted within the catchment area of the lake, and the application for a processing plant at Zod was denied. Still, the option was considered and discussions of a possible exception to the existing regulation caused fierce opposition among NGOs and local residents, who eventually succeeded in halting the project.
Mining and smelting plant in Alaverdi. Lori Province, Armenia →Photography: © Alban Kakulya
23. . .
24 . . .View of Kajaran town, Syunik Province, Armenia
Photography: © Alban Kakulya
25. . .
26 . . .
A flourishing mining sector often goes hand in hand with a string of environmental problems that need to be addressed. In many places in Armenia, hasty development overlooked the Soviet mining legacies and their continuing environmental impacts. Kapan, for example, has waste dumps that go back to the Soviet period, and even back to French mining activities during tsarist times.6 Many of these legacy sites are orphaned – without a clearly defined owner with legal responsibility. This experience is similar to many other mining regions that have had to deal with the economic changes following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In order to prevent problems like these in the future, new sites and operators should learn from the achievements and failures of the past, and assign roles and responsibilities for environmental protection from the very beginning of planning for mine operations. Environmental plans and the finances to implemented them are needed before, during and after mining.
Environmental concerns arise from mining itself and from the waste created by mining and mineral processing. Compared to underground mining, open pit mining is often more profitable, but creates greater environmental problems through its impact on landscapes and ecosystems. Toxic chemicals flowing from mines and mine waste have a large potential to pollute rivers and lakes. Where these waterways are transboundary, such pollution can be a potential source for conflict, in
6 Zoï Environmental Network, ”Technical Expert Mission Report, Strengthening capacity in environmental assessment and risk reduction at mining sites in Armenia”, July 19–26, 2010 (Draft version).
particular in politically sensitive areas. Agarak mine in southern Armenia, for example, uses water from and discharges waste water into the Arax River, which defines the border with Iran before flowing deep into Azerbaijani territory. Similarly, several mines in northern Armenia discharge waste water into the Debet River, which flows northwards to Georgia where it joins the Kura River. Georgian environmentalists are concerned that with growing mining activities in northern Armenia, Georgian water supplies might be threatened.7
Late in the Soviet era, Armenia witnessed growing environmental activism in opposition to large Soviet projects that disregarded environmental consequences. The first such movement dated from the 1960s when intellectuals and artists campaigned to save Lake Sevan, which by then had dropped by 18 metres due to over-exploitation for hydropower generation. In the 1980s, Armenia witnessed protest movements against polluting industries, with such targets as a synthetic rubber plant in Yerevan. After the Chernobyl nuclear power accident and the Armenian earthquake of 1988, a strong anti-nuclear movement called for the closure of the Medzamor nuclear plant. The green movement in Armenia slowed down in the early 1990s in relation to the economic crisis and the widespread unemployment that put economic and social issues at the centre of public attention, while environmental and public health became secondary issues at best.
7 Tsira Gvasalia, ”Heavy Metal River; Environmentalists Worry That a Hillside Mine in Armenia Will Bring Contamination to Southern Georgia”, Transitions-on-Line, February 11, 2011: http://www.armeniatree.org/environews/enews_transitions_online021111.htm
Mining and the environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
27. . .
In recent years, however, mining projects have rejuvenated the environmental movement. Mining projects are increasingly subject to the mobilization of opposition, and critics are challenging the way contracts are issued and the way profits are distributed. The media and NGOs are well informed and outspoken about the environmental concerns related to mining operations. Their criticism of the planned Teghut or Zod mine development has focussed on:
→ The lack of attention to the environmental consequences of the mining activities
→ The lack of transparency in contracts and acquisition, and questions about collusion between government officials and the mining industry
→ The low taxes that make mining activities cheap in Armenia, but with negative consequences for the environment and public health
28 . . .
29. . .
Conclusion
The Armenian economy depends heavily on mining to create jobs and to narrow its foreign exchange gap, but the way the mining sector has developed over the last decade poses several problems. Like many other post-Soviet countries, Armenia developed low-value raw material exports rather than high-value finished industrial products. Moreover, the new private companies continued the old practices of disregarding the environmental consequences of mining. The sector has also become one of the symbols of corruption where politics and business are indistinguishable from each other. The mining sector needs fundamental reforms in order fuel the sustainable development of Armenia’s economy. This in turn requires strong governance rooted in a democratic dialogue that includes all stakeholders and promotes transparency.
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← Apartment block in Kapan, Syunik Province, Armenia Photography: © Alban Kakulya Caption?
Photography: © Alban Kakulya
30 . . .
31. . .← On the Syunik plateau at 2300 m, near Goris, Syunik Province, Armenia Photography: © Alban Kakulya
The Armenian economy depends heavily on mining to create jobs and to narrow its foreign exchange gap, but the way the mining sector has developed over the last decade poses several problems. Like many other post-Soviet countries, Armenia developed low-value raw material exports rather than high-value finished industrial products. Moreover, the new private companies continued the old practices of disregarding the environmental consequences of mining. The sector needs fundamental reforms in order fuel the sustainable development of Armenia’s economy. This in turn requires strong governance rooted in a democratic dialogue that includes all stakeholders and promotes transparency.
Zoï Environment NetworkInternational Environment House 2 · Chemin de Balexert 9 · CH-1219 Châtelaine · Geneva, SwitzerlandTel. +41 22 917 83 42 · [email protected] · www.zoinet.org
