YEREVAN. – A program has been developed in Armenia toward starting fiber production from basalt raw materials. 

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisyan noted the abovementioned during Tuesday’s National Assembly hearings devoted to the country’s mining industry.

In his words, such fibers are widely used in economy toward replacing metals.  

The world’s leading Chinese companies are engaged in this project. It is planned to build a respective Armenian-Chinese joint enterprise, but the technological chain is not fully developed.

Movsisyan informed that the aforesaid joint venture will manufacture pipes, fittings, etc.     

Armenia’s market, however, is very small, and this has caused caution among private investors, since additional logistics costs arise in the case of exports.