Government to adhere to Amulsar audit conclusion

The Armenian government has paid $300,000 to a prestigious international company to carry out audit at the Amulsar mine, PM Nikol Pashinyan said in parliament in response to a question from Prosperous Armenia Party lawmaker Artur Grigoryan.

“The audit will give the answer to one question – whether the environmental risks that might emerge in the event of the Amulsar mine’s operation are manageable or not, are they acceptable or not. I am saying this very simply. If the conclusion will be negative, meaning they will say that it contains environmental risks for Jermuk’s water system and Lake Sevan, then this project will be shut down completely. If they will say that these risks aren’t big, meaning they are manageable, then the project will work”, the PM said.

However, the prime minister admitted that the issue has been protracted a bit. He said the delay was caused by the mine’s operator Lydian’s unwillingness to cooperate with the government.

“I cannot and I don’t want to make an approximate decision by eyeballing it. Whatever the conclusion will say the government will realize it”.