Public organizations sent a letter to Prime Minister of country with  appeal to stop development of Amulsar deposit

ArmInfo.A number of Armenian public organizations addressed an open letter to the country's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with an appeal to halt the development of  the Amulsar deposit.

In the opinion of the authors of the letter, the development of the  deposit may become a new ecological catastrophe for Armenia. "We are  aware that until now the state policy in the mining industry has been  based on such development scenarios that many countries of the world  have refused, since in the short term it is a very risky enterprise,  economically unreasonable and financially unstable," the letter says.  It also indicates the danger of such factors as violation of human  security, generally accepted norms and infringement of the rights of  future generations. The situation, which can be described as the  "Curse of Resources", is presented as a policy of attracting  investments. Meanwhile, investments in a broader sense also include  spending on fulfilling commitments, such as equitable distribution of  social wealth among the local population, assessing the interests of  workers and villagers, and, most importantly, addressing the problem  of nature conservation. The letter was signed by representatives of  several public organizations - the Environmental Front of Armenia,  NGO "Forests of Armenia", Transparency International and  "Environmental Law", EcoLur, Public Ecological Union, etc.

To note, the sphere of mining industry occupies a special place in  the economy of Armenia. At least half of Armenia's exported deposits  fall to the share of ore concentrates and metals, which occupy the  most important place in the list of products imported from the  country. At the state balance of mineral resources, more than 670  deposits of solid minerals with confirmed reserves, including 30  metal deposits, are currently registered. About 400 of these deposits  are exploited, including 22 metal ones. There are 7 copper-molybdenum  deposits, 4 copper, 14 gold and gold-polymetallic deposits, 2 iron  ore and 1 aluminum ore on metallic minerals.

On May 25, RA Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural  Resources Arthur Grigoryan told journalists that work will soon begin  on the implementation of the decree of the Prime Minister of the  Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, on verification at the  exploited mines and deposits in Armenia. According to him, the  department has already received the order of the Prime Minister, work  on its implementation has begun. "All research data will be published  in a short time," the minister stressed. Earlier, RA Prime Minister  instructed the authorities to start inspections at the exploited  mines and mineral deposits in Armenia. He noted that recently there  have been a lot of signals about the compliance of these mines with  the legislation and environmental standards of the country.

"We will be consistent in this matter, recently, both in the whole  world and in Armenia environmental problems are being actively  discussed, in this issue, as well as in a number of others, a  balanced approach is needed," noted Nikol Pashinyan, Such an approach  will not manage to bring the matter to negative consequences,  including those related to investments.