Lydian Armenia data was incomplete, ELARD expert says
30.08.2019,
15:42
The data provided by Lydian Armenia is so incomplete that it is impossible to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the Amulsar gold project, Nidal Rabahi, an expert of the Earth Link & Advanced Resources Development (ELARD) company, said during a Skype news conference with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. The data provided by Lydian Armenia is so incomplete that it is impossible to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the Amulsar gold project, Nidal Rabahi, an expert of the Earth Link & Advanced Resources Development (ELARD) company, said during a Skype news conference with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
ELRAD, a Lebanese Earth link & Advanced Resources Development company, was chosen by the government in Yerevan to conduct the environmental impact assessment of the Amulsar gold mine.
Nidal Rabahi said ELARD cannot express its estimate in numerical terms for two reasons. The first is that it was not part of the company's mandate: the task was to assess the environmental impact of the project. And secondly, the data that provided the company was so incomplete that the company would not be able to carry out that calculation.
"We were not even able to correlate some of the numbers. That is, Lydian Armenia itself did not assess this impact because of the incomplete data," the expert said.
Regarding the impact of groundwater on Lake Sevan, Rabahi repeated what ELARD said earlier- the impact will be minimal, and when mitigating measures are taken, it will be eliminated.
At the same time, the issue of pollution of the Darb, Vorotan and Spandaryan rivers and Kechut reservoirs remains open due to the inferiority of the available information.
The development of the Amulsar project was halted in 2018 June after environmental groups and local residents set up illegal blockades preventing access to the mine. They argue that the project would pollute the Jermuk mineral water springs and Armenia's largest Lake Sevan. Police have failed to remove the protestors.
In July 2018, bowing to the pressure of Lydian Armenia and environmental activists Armenia’s Investigative Committee launched an inquiry to examine claims of willful concealment of environmental pollution data regarding the mine. The Lebanese consulting firm ELARD was contracted as part of this investigation to review the results of the previous two environmental assessment studies on the mining site.
On August 15 the Toronto-based Lydian International Limited announced that the Special Investigative Committee of Armenia (ICA) released the ELARD report on the environmental audit.
The audit focused on the “wilful concealing of information about pollution of the environment by officials related to the exploitation of the Amulsar gold mine” and was started in March this year.
Lydian Armenia was founded in 2005, and all 100% shares in it are owned by Lydian International. The Amulsar mine program is the first project of the company in Armenia. The Amulsar gold deposit is the second largest deposit in Armenia in terms of gold reserves and is said to contain about 31 million tons of ore and 40 tons of pure gold.
Armenian local environmentalists and residents of nearby villagers have been protesting against the development of the mine for years, claiming that the mining activities would endanger the region’s water resources and the local population’s health. . --0-
ELRAD, a Lebanese Earth link & Advanced Resources Development company, was chosen by the government in Yerevan to conduct the environmental impact assessment of the Amulsar gold mine.
Nidal Rabahi said ELARD cannot express its estimate in numerical terms for two reasons. The first is that it was not part of the company's mandate: the task was to assess the environmental impact of the project. And secondly, the data that provided the company was so incomplete that the company would not be able to carry out that calculation.
"We were not even able to correlate some of the numbers. That is, Lydian Armenia itself did not assess this impact because of the incomplete data," the expert said.
Regarding the impact of groundwater on Lake Sevan, Rabahi repeated what ELARD said earlier- the impact will be minimal, and when mitigating measures are taken, it will be eliminated.
At the same time, the issue of pollution of the Darb, Vorotan and Spandaryan rivers and Kechut reservoirs remains open due to the inferiority of the available information.
The development of the Amulsar project was halted in 2018 June after environmental groups and local residents set up illegal blockades preventing access to the mine. They argue that the project would pollute the Jermuk mineral water springs and Armenia's largest Lake Sevan. Police have failed to remove the protestors.
In July 2018, bowing to the pressure of Lydian Armenia and environmental activists Armenia’s Investigative Committee launched an inquiry to examine claims of willful concealment of environmental pollution data regarding the mine. The Lebanese consulting firm ELARD was contracted as part of this investigation to review the results of the previous two environmental assessment studies on the mining site.
On August 15 the Toronto-based Lydian International Limited announced that the Special Investigative Committee of Armenia (ICA) released the ELARD report on the environmental audit.
In a statement, Lydian quoted Hayk Grigoryan, the head of ICA, as saying that the investigative body had analyzed the information and findings provided by the international audit report and found there were no grounds for criminal prosecution and continuation of criminal proceedings against the company.
Lydian Armenia was founded in 2005, and all 100% shares in it are owned by Lydian International. The Amulsar mine program is the first project of the company in Armenia. The Amulsar gold deposit is the second largest deposit in Armenia in terms of gold reserves and is said to contain about 31 million tons of ore and 40 tons of pure gold.
Armenian local environmentalists and residents of nearby villagers have been protesting against the development of the mine for years, claiming that the mining activities would endanger the region’s water resources and the local population’s health. . --0-
