Minister: Working Group issued a negative opinion on presence of red-listed violet carnation and "Apollo"butterfly in Amulsar area

ArmInfo. A working group of specialists engaged in research at Amulsar issued a negative conclusion about the presence in the area of the future mine of the purple carnations and "Apollo" butterfly, which are included on the Red List, Minister of Nature Protection Erik Grigoryan told a press conference in Yerevan on September 7 summing up the results of 100 days in office.

The Minister stressed that the group that conducted fieldwork on September 4 included specialists from the National Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Nature Protection, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Armenian branch of the Wildlife Fund, and an Moscow State University expert with 40 years of experience. According to the results of the work, it was found out that the violet carnation, which is read listed, has not been noticed in the region for more than 70 years, and the "Apollo"butterfly, although was noticed in the area, but the area is not its habitat because of dampness, and the lack of space for egg- laying. The results of the research, the minister continued, will be transferred to the Nature Protection and Subsoil Inspectorate.

To note, earlier the Nature Protection and Subsoil Inspectorate in connection with the emergence of new environmental factors demanded from Lydian Armenia to stop all work on the development of the Amulsar deposit before a new examination and decision on the basis of this examination. The basis for such a decision was the presentation by ecologist Anoush Nersisyan of the facts that allegedly testify to the presence of red-listed Apollo butterflies and violet carnations in the area of Amulsar. At the same time, based on the submitted data, the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia instituted criminal proceedings on the fact of illegal mine workings.

In this regard, the Minister today stressed that the Inspectorate acted within its authority. He recalled that Lydian Armenia itself repeatedly carried out its studies to assess the impact on the environment. The company employs a group of experts of 5-6 people, whose professionalism can not be doubted. Erik Grigoryan said that at present a draft law on environmental impact assessment has been developed and submitted to the government of the republic, according to which mining companies, at their own expense, at the request of the state, undertake to invite international experts to assess the impact of a program on the environment. He noted that, at the invitation of the Armenian government on September 17, another group of international experts will arrive in Armenia, which will assess the impact of a number of programs on water resources. At the same time, the Minister stated that it is not necessary to talk about the impact of Amulsar on the water resources of Vayots Dzor region of Armenia at present, since the mine is not yet in operation.

To recall, Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of the British Lydian International, whose shareholders are also large international institutional investors from the United States, Great Britain and a number of European countries, including EBRD. The Amulsar project is the largest industrial project in Armenia for the development of the Amulsar gold deposit at a total cost of $ 370 million. In August 2016, a project for the construction and development of the field was launched. Preliminary work has been carried out since 2006.  The life of the Amulsar deposit will be 10 years and 4 months, an annual average of 200,000 ounces of gold (about 10 million tons of ore) is planned. The company's shares are quoted on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  Amulsar deposit is the second largest in Armenia.