On 4 September, the Armenian Ministry of Environment submitted the long-awaited report in regarding the environmental impact of the Amulsar gold mine project. According to Vladimir Karapetyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia’s spokesperson, the Ministry of Environment concluded that a new environmental impact assessment is needed in order to clarify if the gold mine could be exploited. A day earlier Minister of the Environment of Armenia Erik Grigoryan said at the cabinet meeting that some initial data for Amulsar were inaccurate.
A day later, Yura Ivanyan, head of the investigation group in the Amulsar case, and Samvel Avetisyan, the deputy head of the Investigative Committee, have been relieved of their posts. Ivanyan refused to answer journalists’ questions about leaving his post. Naira Harutyunyan, the investigative committee spokesperson said that Ivanyan has neither been resigned nor dismissed. She refused to give any further details saying that the dismissal and appointment of committee chairman’s deputies is under the authority of the government. Ivanyan was appointed to head an official investigation to verify allegations that the investigation on the environmental impact of the Amulsar gold mine was not impartial. Afterwards, an investigation was launched against Ivanyan on 2 September due to the information of the Infocom information platform that he is related to former Minister of Ecology Aramayis Grigoryan.
On 1 September, the company tasked to exploit the mine, Lydian International accused the Lebanese-based consultancy firm ELARD, which conducted the environmental impact assessment, for misleading the Armenian government about the project’s environmental risks. “The Government of Armenia has said publicly that Lydian and the Amulsar Project have been the subject of a campaign by rival mining companies providing support to opponents of the Amulsar Project … When will the Government of Armenia identify the rival mining companies conducting this campaign, how much has been paid to oppose the Amulsar Project and who has been paid?” read Lydian’s official statement.
The ELARD experts offered a different interpretation of their report during a video conference with Armenian government officials and lawmakers moderated by Pashinyan on 29 August. They said that they cannot definitively evaluate the Amulsar project’s potential impact on the environment because Lydian had submitted flawed and incomplete information to the Armenian authorities.
