YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper of Armenia writes: Zhoghovurd daily has received an alert that the Teghut mine being operated in Lori Province is ceasing its activities for an indefinite period.

In particular, the management provided such information to the employees. The reason, in fact, is the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian military operations.

As it is known, the owners [of the Teghut mine] have changed since 2019, and the Teghut mine is [now] under the control of the Russian VTB Bank. Let us remind you that the Armenian Copper Program (ACP) (the Alaverdi Copper and Molybdenum Combine) company, the "Teghut" Closed Joint-Stock Company—which was operating the Teghut Copper Molybdenum Mine—, the Base Metals company of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], etc., were part of the Vallex Group of companies.

After the change of power [in Armenia] in 2018, the ACP and the “Teghut” CJSC were transferred to the management of the VTB Bank in exchange for the debt, as Teghut had taken a large loan from VTB to co-fund the construction of the combine and the work of the operation of the mine, and at some point the paying back of the loan had become more difficult due to the fall of copper prices on the world market.