Why wasn’t it possible to make Prince Charles emotional?

“Your friends might try to convince you that the British investments are necessary for Armenia. They create jobs, etc. But the few workplaces created in the mining sector contain bigger effects for other sectors. Mining is only 3% of our GDP.” This is only a part from the letter of Armenian environmentalists addressed to Prince Charles.

The letter was written at the end of May of the current year, when the Prince visited Armenia. And the main goal of the letter was to prevent the exploitation of the ore in Amulsar by a British company Lidian International.

“Your Excellence, we request you as a supporter of environment, to abstain from the exploitation of Amulsar. In the meantime, we request you to use your influence to prevent this project,” reads the letter. Why did we remember this letter? Because the activists of Teghut are planning to conduct protest campaigns in front of the President’s office. “It cannot be like this anymore. If the mine is exploited nothing can grow in that territory for 10,000 years. Several years later Teghut will not exist anymore. It is necessary to fight against the predator investors,” emphasize the environment activists in their statement and urge the nation to join them. In the meantime, the activists are going to protest in front of the British Embassy.

The popularity of the closed market is gradually fading out and the attention of the activists is focused on old and kind mines. In the case of Teghut, this activeness is sort of unclear because the forest is already destroyed and the production is in process. As of Amulsar, everything is ahead. There are no trees here but the environmentalists believe that the exploitation of the ore will jeopardize the existence of animals of the Red Book. Besides, according to the activists, the mine is located in the basin of Sevan and no the law prohibits any kind of economic activity in the vicinity.

The worst thing that can happen to Sevan is the possible earthquake that can move the chemicals in the basin of the lake. The activists have informed the Prince of all these concerns. And the threats resemble a real Hollywood horror movie. But it turns out the Prince doesn’t much care about these threats and possible damage. Moreover, it caused the opposite effect.

During the meeting with journalists on September 30 the British Ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Aves lauded the Amulsar project by saying, “I think this project will bring big benefits for Armenia.” He also added that Amulsar project will not only create workplaces but will also supply additional taxes for Armenia. It will also show to the west that Armenia is a place where international large companies can operate. As it seems, the letter addressed to Prince Charles didn’t give any positive effects. The letter didn’t wake up his conscience and care to the health of the Armenian people. Why not? It is of course impossible to give a very accurate response but we may assume that. It is no surprise that Prince Charles also reads other publications, which praise the project. And we shouldn’t think that the Prince listens to the opinions of only his friends (as the letter would claim).

Perhaps he reads Mining Weekly, where he finds the comments of the CEO of AngloGold Ashanti Mark Cufiani. The latter says that mining provides 45% of the world GDP. In the meantime, only 1% of ores and 1% of water resources are used for mining purposes. “Mining is the most important branch, which a lot of people do not appreciate,” he says and adds that they are not a dangerous branch but a growing one. Of course, the opinion of this person may be considered subjective but there is one point that is highlighted not only by him but many others. Many scientists claim that in the event of the right use of mining ore instead of harming the nature it is possible to do it some use.

The freshest analysis on this was provided by the Economist (and we cannot rule out that Charles and many others are well-aware of that). It clearly says that mining an environment protection can develop in parallel. They are proving that in the conditions of economic growth, technological development the governments can work a lot more productive in the environment protection field. So the expression that nature protection and an occupation for the rich is not so false. We should look at it from a different perspective – in conditions of poverty protecting the environment is naivety. And we are speaking about the killing effects of mining. Indeed, it sounds very profound for certain audience. But if they cease mining, the negative effects for hundreds of employees and their families will be even more devastating.

As of Armenia, we can just say that mining is one of the most important branches for the economy. First, mining provides not 3% but 10% of Armenia’s GDP. Second, this sector pays a lot of tax to the budget. For example, according to the 2012 data Zangezur Molybdenum Plant paid 31,6 billion AMD taxes, Dino Gold Mining – 7,1 billion, Geo Pro Mining – 5 billion, etc. Third, over 10,000 people work in this sector. According to the results of the State Revenue Committee, in 2012 Zangezur had 3294 employees, Dino Gold and Teghut had over 1000 employees, etc.

These are facts that we cannot ignore. There is no need to do complicated calculations. We should only for a moment imagine the condition of the economy if this sector ceases functioning. It is no news that mining is not the most desirable branch of economy to develop. It would be much better to develop tourism and high technologies. But it is really wrong to preach to stop the functioning of this sector in the case when one leg of your economy stands on it. Perhaps it would be better if the activists used other means and worked in other sector. For example, make the companies that cut one tree to plant a hundred more. In a word, they should try not to destroy the mining sector but make it serve the interests of the environment. This is not impossible. All we need is a desire for that.

By Sargis Ghazaryan