Nature minister gives no warnings

On his three-day visit to the province of Syunik, nature minister Aram Harutyunyan met with several large production facilities to find out just how much these facilities were harming the region’s nature. “Deno Gold Mining” of Kapan was found by the minister and his accompanying experts to not be doing anything to harm the environment and that smoke was not being released from the facility.

“They have the issue of creating a new area for mining wastes, as unused materials are not being put in small storage areas. Soil is now being removed to create a place for the new storage areas,” the ministry’s press secretary, Ardzrun Pepanyan, told a Panorama.am journalist while talking about details of the minister’s visit, also noting that no dirty air in the area of the mine was found.

After that, the delegation went to the Zangezur Copper Factory, and once again, according to Pepanyan, the minister showed no dissatisfaction. “Here the main question was about unused materials, and how the government paid money for these materials, which the factory was unable to sell,” the press secretary said, saying everyone agreed with the minister’s evaluation.

The same results were seen for the Agarak Copper Factory, where no violations were registered.

Pepayan can’t say precisely whether any damage to the surrounding nature is taking place. During the visit, the minister gave no warnings to any of the factories for violating any laws about producing dirty air. He only told them to be careful and alert.