MINE CONTROL: ARMENIAN GROUPS TRYING TO PROTECT THE TEGHUT FOREST CONFRONT A FAMILIAR OBSTACLE: THE GOVERNMENT
by Arpi Harutyunyan
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June 17 2008
Czech Republic
YEREVAN | Earth-movers are already clearing swaths of trees in one of
Armenia’s most pristine regions, but that has not stopped environmental
pressure groups from lobbying the National Assembly to scrap a mining
concession in the Teghut forest.
"We will be gathering here until the government deems the decision
on Teghut [mine] exploitation nullified," one protester said during
a recent demonstration at the parliament, amid shouts of "Keep Your
Hands off Teghut," "Green and Clean Armenia," and "Healthy Generation."
"We want to personally meet the prime minister and prevent the
exploitation at any expense, because it may otherwise destroy one
of the unique forests of Armenia and also threaten the health of
the future generations," said Sona Ayvazyan, a member of the Teghut
Defense Initiative and country director for Transparency International.
Many rural villages, like this one near Vanadzor in Armenia’s
Lori region, struggle economically. But some residents fear mining
operations at Teghut will bring more problems than opportunity. Photo
by Timothy Spence
It is a familiar fight for conservationists in Armenia, where mining
for copper, molybdenum, and other metals has enjoyed resurgence
after production slumped in the years following independence from
the Soviet Union in 1991. The industry provides badly needed jobs and
export revenue but worsens the deforestation from illegal logging and
poor land-use practices. Armenian Forests, a conservation group that
works to restore threatened woodlands, estimates that the amount of
forested land in the country has fallen from 25 percent to 8 percent
in the last century.
In November the National Assembly approved a 25-year license to operate
an open-pit copper and molybdenum mine in Teghut, located in the
country’s Lori province 190 kilometers north of the capital, Yerevan.
Teghut is being developed by the Armenian Copper Program, a
Yerevan-registered company backed by investors in Liechtenstein
and Russia. The mine has the support of senior government leaders,
including the president, who see the thousands of jobs expected to
be created as vital to helping the economically blighted region for
decades to come.
Mining opponents have urged Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan to stop
the logging and clearing of 357 hectares of forest in the ruggedly
picturesque Lori region and to review the governmental approval,
as well as develop a long-term strategy for sustainable development
of the country’s considerable metal and mineral resources. Clearing
at Teghut began earlier this year.
Conservation groups are becoming more assertive in their activism. In
early June, some 50 people from Teghut and neighboring Shnogh village
went to Yerevan to demand an end to the clearing. Besides protests
at the National Assembly, on 9 May, the Teghut Defense Initiative
organized a bicycle marathon to Teghut, distributing leaflets urging
that the area be protected from exploitation. A rock concert was
organized in the northern town of Vanadzor in support of the Teghut
forest.
BOUNTIFUL REGION
The Lori region is a striking contrast to hot, dusty, and crowded
Yerevan, home to one-third of Armenia’s 3 million people. The region
is blessed with abundant plant life, verdant forests, and fresh
air. Birds, animals, and fish flourish. The hills and mountains of
the southern Caucasus landscape are bathed in fresh green in the
spring and brilliant color in the autumn.
ACP will clear 357 hectares of forest to get to the copper and
molybdenum buried beneath Teghut. That translates into about 57,700
cubic meters of timber.
Company representatives say the work will comply with national
environmental laws, including one that requires massive replanting
of the forest.
Conservationists, however, say the project means more than the loss of
trees. Clearing steep slopes, they say, will cause erosion that will
threaten nearby rivers and gorges. And they say the tree loss will
be much greater, because the invasive type of mining also requires
vast areas to deposit ore tailings, the waste product from the mine’s
sifting operations.
Hakob Sanasaryan, chairman of the Greens Union of Armenia, says more
than 170,000 trees growing on slopes of up to 45 degrees, including
pear, walnut, and apple, will be logged and the company plans to sell
the timber as firewood, at a price 10 to 20 times lower than the wood
would fetch as lumber.
Razmik Terteryan, who is monitoring the project for the Orinats Yerkir
(Rule of Law) Party, which has close ties to the governing Republican
Party, said, "Our estimates show about 2,000 hectares of forest will
be destroyed as a result of the mining and creation of the tailing
and engineering infrastructure. As a result Teghut will become a
landslide zone."
Bird-watchers from the American University in Armenia environmental
program search for a threatened species in the northern Lori
region. Photo by Timothy Spence
The 26 representatives of another anti-mining group, SOS Teghut,
say the approval of this project violates 77 laws and international
agreements, including provisions of the constitution and rules
on environmental protection, land-use planning, air quality, and
forestry. For example, Armenian law prohibits cutting on slopes steeper
than 30 degrees, while some of the slopes at Teghut are far steeper.
Silva Adamyan, chairwoman of the Ecological Public Alliance, claims
impact assessments from the Ministry of Environmental Protection differ
significantly from those provided by independent analysts. For example,
the ministry approved the Teghut mining plans presented by ACP and
its affiliated Institute for Mountain Metallurgy even though the plans
lacked such required details as the costs for environmental protection
and land compensation for villagers in neighboring Shnogh and Teghut.
Teghut’s metal reserves were identified 30 years ago at a time when
Soviet Armenia provided one-third of the USSR’s molybdenum, while
also producing nonferrous ores like gold and lead. Today, metals are
the backbone of the country’s $1.2 billion in exports.
Ruben Papoyan, the Teghut mine regional director for ACP, says the
availability of commercially exploitable reserves of the metals was
confirmed in 1991 as the Soviet Union was nearing its end. Before
the government finally issued the license to ACP last year, plans to
exploit the site had been considered for years.
BY THE BOOKS
Vardan Aivazyan, a former minister for environmental protection, and
ACP executive director Gagik Arzumanyan have defended the approval
process. "Of course the natural landscape will be destroyed, but is it
a reason not to implement the project? Any kind of economic activity
implies some extent of damage. Roads, railroads are built today and
they also harm the environment; shall we say we don’t need them?" said
Arzumanyan, a former deputy minister of finance and economy.
"People have spent serious sums to find out there’s a large amount of
copper and molybdenum, plus other metals in that area," said Aivazyan,
adding the land-clearing planned by ACP is minor, especially as the
company intends to replant the forest cover.
Aram Harutyunyan, the current environment minister, has insisted that
the Teghut mining deal was done in accordance with the law and will
provide income for the state.
But some Armenians, including those most affected by the mining,
believe the government may be trading an irreplaceable treasure for
short-term gain.
"They say the forest in the neighboring areas will recover in 25
years. That’s impossible, simply because the trees in Teghut are
centuries old. And we all know a sapling hardly becomes a tree in 25
years, let alone becoming a tree with a thick trunk and performing
all the functions of providing biodiversity," said Varsham Avetyan,
who lives in Shnogh.
Teghut is considered one of the last virgin forests of Armenia, with
55,000 rare and 45,000 valuable trees as well as 55 animal species,
some listed as endangered, according to WWF-Armenia branch director
Karen Manvelyan.
"The future of the northern part of Armenia is unclear: the forest
loggings and mine industry have already exterminated panther, chamois,
and red deer. And the north of the country was the natural habitat of
these animals," Manvelyan said. "Birds, mammals will leave the place
as soon as the mining starts. Significant damage will be caused to
reptiles and plants."
Armenia features stunning landscapes that make a sublime setting for
remote monastaries like this one near Noravank. But conservationists
fear mining, logging, and poor land use threaten to wipe out remaining
forests. Photo by Timothy Spence
The Teghut forest is a relatively small part of the expansive,
1,970 hectares of land that will be part of the mine and associated
operations. Some 380 hectares of the mining concession lie in
neighboring communities, including privately held land plots. Up to 180
hectares is reserved for a tailing area in the Pakasajur River valley.
Sanasaryan, of the Greens Union, is concerned with the chosen location
for the tailing area, which he fears can cause landslides. There is
also a concern about toxic runoff from the copper, molybdenum, sulfur,
arsenic, lead, zinc, and other metals bleeding into the Pakasajur.
ACP, which reported revenues of 24.3 billion drams ($79.5 million)
last year, is not a stranger to controversy. Health and environmental
officials have complained for years that its copper smelter in the
northeastern Lori town of Alaverdy poses a health risk. The privately
held company has acknowledged that the smelter’s 100-meter, Soviet-era
smokestack lacks sufficient filters, leaving the town enveloped in a
smoggy pall, but cites the high cost of meeting modern environmental
standards for delays in reducing emissions.
Under ACP’s government contract at Teghut, the ore will be extracted
through the open-cast method, which involves clearing the surface
and sifting through soil in search of ore.
To mitigate the environmental damage, some conservation groups have
suggest that Teghut be a closed mine – a far costlier option that
requires underground tunneling and intricate safety measures.
But ACP officials say that’s not possible. Gagik Babayan, head of the
geological survey group at the Teghut site, said the mine is not of
a vein form, and therefore close-cast extraction would not work.
Papoyan defends plans for the mining operation, pointing out that it
will provide an estimated 2,000 jobs. That was also a point made by
then-Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, who took part in the launch of
the mine on 3 November. Sargsyan, who is now the country’s president,
acknowledged the environmental concerns but said ACP had met all
its obligations.
"I think there’s no reason to worry, because the [Republic of Armenia]
governmental decision clearly sets the rules of the game, and we,
as the government, will be constantly watching this," Sargsyan said
at the time.
ACP is pumping a reported $250 million to $300 million into the project
and expects Teghut to produce 30,000 tons of copper and 800 tons of
molybdenum ore annually for at least 30 years. Demand for copper
has been growing at nearly 4 percent per year in the past decade,
and prices for the nonferrous metal hit record territory this year.
Molybdenum, a byproduct of copper mining, is valued for its
versatility. It can be purified and added to lubricants and mixed with
other metals. As an alloy, steel molybdenum’s ability to withstand
extreme temperatures makes it useful for airplane parts and high-speed
cutting tools.
Even those who support the economic benefits of Teghut worry about the
impact on the 5,000 people who live in the Shnogh and Teghut villages,
whose bucolic life and fruit trees that grow on hillsides will change
when the mining operation is fully operational.
Harutyun Meliksetyan, who heads the Teghut village administration,
and Koryun Shahinyan, deputy head of the Shnogh administration, both
support the mine but share villagers’ concerns about the potential
environmental costs.
"We are all concerned with preserving the forest, but more than the
half of these village people are unemployed," the Shnogh official
said. "We think they will at least get jobs by the exploitation of
the mine."
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