“Farmers would be most interested if GeoTeam exploited those lands”
A few days ago it was announced that an agreement was reached between the RA government and GeoTeam company (and Lidian International, 100% shareholder of the company) to place a stack washing and refining cauldron in Amulsar. In the past it was offered to place it in a 2-kilometer vicinity from Gndevaz village. Now it is planned to build it 4 kilometers to south-west from the village. When speaking to 168-Zham the head of Gndevaz village Hairapet Mkrtchyan told that the territory is not very interesting for the villagers. “There is neither agriculture there and the lands are not fertile. They’d more care if GeoTeam exploited those lands.” Mkrtchyan mentioned that the community is not against the exploitation of the mine because GeoTeam shows a drastic support to the community. The head of the village told that his year they have visited the US with the heads of villages of Goraik and Saravan. They have visited communities, where similar technologies are used. “If they provide the same technical safety in our communities then I will be very happy about that. We have seen everything in a very good shape in the US. There were communities with only 5000 population and there was no chemical dust or noise there.” One of the places that the head of the village visited was Cripple Creek & Victor mine in Colorado. The mine belongs to AngloGold Ashanti company, which exploits approximately 20 mines in North and South America, Australia, Russia, etc. It has approximately 60,000 employees. In Cripple Creek & Victor mine there are 560 workers. That town is only 25 kilometers away from Colorado Springs and right next to it is Cripple Creek town that has existed right next to the mine for over 100 years now.
There are basins and natural lakes in 5-10 kilometers distance from the mine. “I have been in two mines in the United States and seen how that technology works; if they do the same way, there will be no problem,” said Gorayk village community head Arustam Arustamyan. According to him, in the United States companies pay attention to environmental issues and employ modern technologies for that purpose. Arustamyan says the mines he saw in the US were very close to populated areas, and they were using chemical liquids to wash, “People were living close to gold mines, and they were participating in extraction works too. Wild and domestic animals were walking with people in the same area. I have seen it myself. They can extract minerals in the central square of Yerevan with that technology, too, and there will be no problem.” Arustamyan says that such construction units are resistant to 9.5 magnitude earthquake. For example, a recent earthquake in Turkey did not damage mines as they had such technologies.
Turkey’s Kisladag gold mine belongs to the Canadian Eldorado Gold company. This company and GeoTeam’s 100% owner Lydian International are publicly traded in Toronto stock exchange. The mine is operated since 2006, and till now it has produced 1.5 million ounce gold with the pile washing technology. “My villagers are waiting for the operation of the mine. If it is delayed, they will leave the area. This is a source of employment for them. This year they delayed the operation of the mine, and 28 people from my village left for Russia to earn living. They will come back,” said Arustamyan.
Saravan village community head Simon Babayan also appreciates the work the GeoTeam is doing ad says that the company employs 25-30 people from the village, who receive high salaries, and people are pretty optimistic about them.
Babayan says that during his visit to the United States he also saw closed mines with recovered environment, and he also saw animals there. “I talked to people from the villages in the vicinity of the mine in the United States, one of which was 100-150 year-old village that was created on the base of mines. People were very optimistic about it. Even I asked a 73-year-old woman whether mines had affected their quality of life, and she said no. She was optimistic too. In fact there is no problem as there is no radiation either. If they use the same technology that we saw there, it will be very positive for Armenia, migration will stop, and even people from our village that are working in Moscow and Kazakhstan will come back,” said Babayan.
Armen Stepanyan, GeoTeam JSC’s environmental and social projects coordinator, candidate of technical sciences, visited the United States with the village community head and says that the pile washing technology was first used in the United States, and now it is being used in South Africa, Russia, Australia, Canada and other countries. “Armenia started using cyanide in gold extraction long ago. Cyanide liquid that is used for pile washing technology is a very thin liquid. Cyanide is used in many countries, including Europe.
The mining sector consumes only 6% of the entire volume of cyanide produced, as the rest is used in different other productions. ” One of the main prerequisites of securing best security measures is membership with the International cyanide code, which the Lydian company has promised to do. What I want to say is that in this cyanide technology there is no basin used for mining purposes, and after extraction of ores the area is fully re-cultivated,” said A. Stepanyan and added that they had invited community heads of the surrounding villages to the United States to show them that modern technologies can be used in their area, too, which would make mine extraction safe for them.
By Gayane Khachatryan
