Pashinyan says copper smelter and new nuclear power plant to be built in Armenia

YEREVAN, October 7. /ARKA/. A copper smelter and a new nuclear power plant will be built in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday during a government Q&A session in parliament.

Pashinyan said that the government received an offer from GeoProMining Company, which is in tune with Armenia’s economic and state interests, as it includes two important elements - construction of a copper smelter, which means that Armenia will not export copper concentrate and import finished copper for use in other productions, and will produce copper itself here.

The prime minister noted that the construction of a new nuclear power plant is part of this program. According to him, the Russian GeoProMining Company has undertaken investment obligations to build a copper smelter.

"Negotiations on the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia have already begun. Of course, the participation of the government in this process is important because a nuclear power plant cannot be a full-fledged private initiative, and the government must actively participate in it," he said.

Pashinyan stressed that the construction of a new copper smelter is to start by June 2025, and the construction of a nuclear power plant should be attempted in parallel.

“It would be good if the operation of the copper smelter and the nuclear power plant coincide,” he said.

Earlier this month Nikol Pashinyan received Roman Trotsenko, a member of the Board of Directors of Russian GeoProMining Company, whose subsidiary called Industrial Company, acquired 60 percent of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC), Armenia’s largest mining enterprise and immediately ‘granted’ 25% of shares to the Armenian government.

“We are pleased with the cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Armenia, which will help stabilize the situation around the ZCMCt, implement long-term large-scale investment programs in the mining sector of Armenia, the total volume of which will reach about $4 billion. This will make it possible to process products, build new factories so that Armenia can produce copper, and not concentrate it, as well as build a new nuclear power plant. New jobs and opportunities will be created that will open up new ways of development," Trotsenko was quoted as saying by the Armenian government press office.

The Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine located in Kajaran, a small town in south-eastern province of Syunik has 4000 people on its payrolls. ZCMC has long been one of Armenia’s top three corporate taxpayers. In 2020 it paid about 41.689 billion drams ($86 million) in various taxes. -0-