Court Cases against Mining Project in Amulsar

Currently there are several court cases against gold mining project in Amulsar. They have the following developments.

In the RA Administrative Court the complaint presented by 8 Gndevaz residents continues to be examined. The residents demand annulling permissions given for gold mine exploitation in Amulsar. Among the complainants were two environmental NGOs “Ecological right” and “EcoDar”, which however have been left out from the process based on the decision of the judge (Karen Zarikyan) made on August 30.

As a result the head of “Ecological Right” NGO Arthur Grigoryan appealed this decision at the RA Court of Appeal. However, a few days ago it turned out that the first court hearing is planned for April 26, 2019. This means appellation of administrative cases is impeded in Armenia.

Meanwhile, on November 30 (2017) during the examination of the case by Gndevaz residents at the RA Administrative Court, plaintiff’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan presented the court with conclusions from three international independent expert groups (Blue Minerals Consultancy – Australia, Buka Environmental- USA, Clear Coast Consulting, Inc., Canada) regarding the environmental risks of this gold mine project. The judge accepted the documents and gave time to “Lydian Armenia” company representative to get introduced with them. The next court hearing is not yet announced.

Parallel to this a new complaint is launched at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts against “Lydian Armenia” company. The plaintiff is owner of land in Herher village of Vayots Dzor region, lawyer Harutyun Baghdasaryan. He claims that his right to property is violated and demands new assessment and expertise of Amulsar project.

Armenian Environmental Front in its turn applied to RA Administrative Court with a new complaint against RA Ministry of Emergency Situations for not providing copies of conclusions on technical safety expertise for Amulsar project. The complainant demands from the court to oblige the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations to provide the requested documents. These include copies of all conclusions on technical safety expertise for industrial dangerous objects provided by “National Center for Technical Safety” SNCO for gold mine in Amulsar. This expertise refer to 1) open pits, 2) mine’s barren rock storage facility, 3) cyanide heap leach facility, 4) gold extraction factory.

This much for now; new court cases and revelations are ahead.

Armenian Environmental Front (AEF) civil initiative
Email:   armecofront@gmail.com

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