YEREVAN.- Armenia has a capability to produce 80,000 tons of copper annually, said President of Vallex Group Valeriy Mezhlumyan.

The group is currently producing blister copper and exports it to Europe. However, it is difficult to reach Europe’s production volume.  

“We plan to produce for instance 100 tons of copper a year, while the European companies create additional processing capacity for 300-400 tons. So, in order to be competitive in this area, we can only rely on Armenian concentrates and the Georgian ones,” he said.

According to him, in the next 4 years the company intends to increase the volume of copper production. Georgia presently produces 15 thousand tons of copper concentrate, while Armenia – about 30 thousand tons. Moreover, in four years Vallex group plans to produce 30-40,000 tons of copper.

“In general, Armenia’s capacity can be estimated at 80 thousand tons per year,” he emphasized.

In his turn, Vice-President of Vallex Group Gagik Arzumanyan noted that modernization of the company’s production will be more effective if sulfuric acid is obtained as a byproduct.

Vallex Group is Armenia-based group of companies including several mining enterprises.