ELARD was selected to conduct an examination at the Amulsar gold deposit without any reason, the head of the United Health Coalition ‘One Health’ Grigor Grigoryan told reporters.

According to him, this company has not previously conducted such examinations and has no experience in the environmental assessment of such deposits.

“It is so strange for me why the Armenian government did not take this into account,” the representative of the civil sector noted.

A member of the Armenian Environmental Front, Silva Adamyan, in her turn, noted that ELARD presented an environmental opinion at a public hearing.

According to her, there are serious concerns that the evaluation of the mine was fictitious, and that the Government is going to permit the exploitation at any cost.

As reported earlier, the Lydian Armenia company received a license to operate the Amulsar mine. Earlier, the Armenian government approved its environmental impact assessment. Then Lydian Armenia was demanded to conduct a second assessment, and after the change of power, the new leadership decided to order an assessment on their own and chose the Lebanese company ELARD, referring to its rich experience. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan now assures that the field should be exploited.