YEREVAN. – Armenia has the largest and most high-quality reserves of perlite, obsidian and other rocks. The confirmed reserves of “Aragats-Perlite” are estimated at 150 million cubic meters, while projected reserves - at 3 billion cubic meters.

Perlite from Aragats deposit was previously exported to Italy , Belgium for production of filters, as well as to Ukraine, Russia, Georgia for thermal insulation materials. However, Europe is currently importing perlite from the United States.

The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has submitted to the government the concept of development of non-metallic ore which supposed to provide government to enterprises processing perlite.