Epress.am News from Armenia
None of the public discussions on whether “Teghut” CJSC, a Vallex Group company, should receive the Armenian government’s consent to carry out exploration drilling in an area just three kilometers away from the village of Tsaghkashat in Armenia’s Lori province have been conducted in the village itself. Moreover, the first discussion was not even held in one of the 5 impacted zones, but on the territory of “Teghut” company instead, Tsaghkashat mayor Hrachya Paranyan said in an interview with Epress.am.
Paranyan said he had applied to the company with the request of conducting the second hearing in Tsaghkashat; however, this time the discussions were held in the town of Alaverdi.
“We went to the town, said we were against the [open-pit mining] and did not give the permission to carry out the drilling. Back in Soviet times, an exploration had been conducted which showed there are heavy metals [in the area], there is uranium. People are worried – they have houses, livelihoods in the village,” the mayor said.
The locals, according to Paravyan, do not need the jobs promised by the mining company: “We have cattle; we grow [vegetables] and make use of the forest goods. There are enough jobs in Tsaghkashat.”
The residents of Tsaghkashat have addressed an open letter to Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and PM Hovik Abrahamyan asking them to prevent Vallex group from developing the mining project. The open letter has been signed by the 95% of the village population.