YEREVAN. – Under the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, the government of Armenia has the opportunity to conduct daily monitoring to assess the impact of the activities being carried out at the Amulsar mine. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday stated this on his Facebook livestream.

“And when a [environmental] violation will be recorded, the government has the leverage to process those violations, and in case of not eliminating it—to ban the operation of the [gold] mine once and for all, or to revoke the license [to operate it],” he added. “Sadly, our [Armenia’s] monitoring capabilities don’t meet with international standards and our wishes, and [therefore] I have set a task before the Ministry of Environment and, in general, to our government to purchase all the necessary equipment until the summer of next year so that we conduct a proper-level monitoring.”

He also explained why the equipment needed for this monitoring will be acquired by Summer 2020.

“At the earliest, Lydian will begin construction work in April-May [2020], in connection with the weather; they will carry out construction work there for several months,” Pashinyan said. “And the nearest timeframe that could happen for the actual operation of Amulsar is the fourth quarter 2020; but the most likely timeframe is the first quarter of 2021.”

The PM stated, however, that even if the roads leading to the Amulsar mine were to open today, construction there will not begin at least before April 2020.

“But that road’s being closed is creating very major problems right today for Armenia, from the viewpoint of [its] international economic image and standing,” Nikol Pashinyan added. “I’m appealing to our dear Jermuk [town] residents with a request to also take this into account, that if we assume the road is open there, the Lydian staff argue that the construction work there will not begin before April next year.

“We have [an opportunity] to get the answers to your, all of our questions under calm conditions. And I urge the Jermuk residents to deblock the roads [leading to the Amulsar mine], also taking into account the fact that, represented by the government, you have a representative that works transparently, (...) and raises the matters that you raise.”

The American-British Lydian Armenia company began construction of the Amulsar gold mine in 2016, announcing it will invest more than $400 million in this project.

Environmentalists and activists, however, have kept the roads to Amulsar closed for a long time. They oppose Amulsar’s operation, and argue that the exploitation of this gold mine will have a disastrous impact on the environment.

In 2019, the Armenian government petitioned to the ELARD consulting firm of Lebanon for an expert conclusion on Amulsar. The government announced that it will make a final decision on Amulsar’s operation only after receiving this conclusion.

Subsequently, the ELARD expert conclusion stated that environmental risks will be manageable if proper monitoring is carried out at Amulsar.

But following a recent videoconference with ELARD experts, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Facebook that several new circumstances had emerged during this videoconference, and which need to be investigated and assessed.

And he instructed the Ministry of Environment to decide whether the Amulsar gold mine project needs to undergo a new Environmental Impact Assessment.