Podcast | The Amulsar mine returns

January 29, 2024 6:22 PM

After over a decade of controversy over environmental, labour, and economic concerns, the Armenian government has finally greenlit the operation of the Amulsar gold mine in Jermuk.

Since the project’s announcement, local communities in and around Jermuk have expressed concern about the mine’s potential impact on their lives and livelihoods, while environmental activists have warned about the catastrophic environmental effects the mines could have on the region.

This week, we spoke to Knar Khudoyan, a journalist who has been closely following the protests surrounding the mine, to Anna Shahnazaryan, an environmental activist who has been campaigning against the mine, and to Hovhannes Avetisyan, an economist and public policy analyst, about the viability of the project.

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the Vice Chair of EBD, Denis Ilyin (left), the Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan (centre), and Jeffrey Coach, a board member at Lydian Armenia. Image via the Ministry of Economy.

Amulsar

Armenia greenlights controversial Amulsar gold mine

Arshaluys Barseghyan

••2 min read

Operation of the contested Amulsar goldmine has been greenlit after Armenia’s government accepted a 12.5% share in the mines on Thursday. The agreed project also notes that the Ministry of Economy will manage the share once the mines are operational. The share was agreed upon when Lydian Armenia, the company operating the mines, Armenia’s Economy Ministry, and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2023. The government’s decision to accept the

Amulsar

Protesters, police, and private security clash at Armenia’s Amulsar Mine

OC Media

••4 min read

Protesters have clashed with police and private security outside the Amulsar Mine in Armenia after security guards dismantled a part of a blockade at the mine’s entrances. On Monday night, mining company Lydian Armenia removed protesters’ cabins from two of the three entrances to the mine with cranes, replacing them with their own structures. Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of Lydian International, registered in the British tax haven of Jersey. The blockade of the mine was organised by a

Amulsar

Pashinyan gives Amulsar mine the go-ahead despite critical environmental report

Peter Liakhov

••6 min read

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has given the green light for the controversial Amulsar Mine project to go ahead despite a report concluding that mining company Lydian failed to properly assess the risks. ‘Not even one litre of polluted water will reach Sevan or Jermuk’, Pashinyan said in a Facebook Live broadcast on Monday night. ‘However’, he added. ‘If new data arises, I am not restricted in changing my mind’. The long-contested mine, located in Vayots Dzor province, had fro

Amulsar

Rural communities in Armenia give mining companies the boot

Samson Martirosyan

••7 min read

In 2018, a group of local residents in Armenia’s Tavush region decided to stand up to a mining company. Now other communities are following suit as a revolution of ‘direct democracy’ seems poised to sweep the countryside. Mining companies in Armenia’s hinterlands have met with new forms of public resistance that some herald as the rebirth of local democracy in the countryside. Recent mining projects in the Armenian regions of Vayots Dzor and Tavush have provoked protest, boycotts, and