The Ministry of Environment of Armenia has informed the Armenian Environmental Front initiative of volunteers that Lydian Armenia’s application for water use for exploitation of the Amulsar gold mine has been rejected under Order 353A of 25 October 2019, as reported on the official website of the Armenian Environmental Front (AEF).

Lydian Armenia had addressed the Ministry of Environment to obtain a permit to use the water of the 40l/sec waters of the Darb River for industrial purpose in the administrative territory of the Zaritap community of Vayots Dzor Province. The Armenian Environmental Front, along with other citizens and specialists, had participated in the discussion on the draft of the permit and had submitted to the minister comments and objections regarding the draft, specifying the professional arguments based on which the application had to be rejected.

Accepting as a basis the fact that the free flow of Darb River isn’t sufficient for the water use that Lydian Armenia has applied for, the minister ordered to reject the application of Lydian Armenia to obtain a permit for water use for industrial purposes, that is, to take 1,244,000 cubic meters of water from the river under a 24-hour regime for 360 days.