"Select: Sevan or Geopromining gold?"
EcoLur NGO and "We Won't Keep Silence" Youth Civic Initiative have launched a new campaign under the slogan "Select: Sevan or Geopromining gold?"
"We owe Sevan a lot. We must return to Sevan what for many years, starting from the Soviet times, have been taken profusely. We must return to Sevan its health, and these are not just nice words. It is really our duty, our duty to return that debt with the expectation that Sevan will continue to serve our people and next generations," Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in Gegharkounik Region on 29 April 2009.
To confirm what was said, in 2009 the project of constructing an ore processing plant in the drainage basin of Sevan, Sotq, was stopped. This project bears enormous risks for Lake Sevan, such as accumulation of millions tons of dumps, dust with toxic compounds and cyanic tailing dump etc. The project was lobbied by Geopromining Gold Mining Company and has its patrons though such activity is banned by RA Law "On Lake Sevan," EcoLur and We Won't Keep Silence said in a statement.
"The company didn't follow public appeals, but it didn't dare to act against the country's top figure, so public celebrated its victory.
After two years, Geopromining Gold Company made its plans come true, at least partially. A new workshop, a crushing and sorting complex, was constructed under open air without any project. Nevertheless, nobody dealt with this evidently illegal object, though it operates at full strength. Even inspection was not carried out in the company, which had violated our country's laws and putting at stake the strategic reserve of freshwater with a capacity of 34 billion cubic meters. It turned out that officials are not going to pay their debt back to Sevan, a debt which is prescribed by their obligations and held offices.
We are calling on Nature Protection Ministry represented by Mr. Minister not to deal with the examination of this issue, as it has long been examined. This solution has only one possible solution - the crushing and sorting complex must be dismantled, while Geopromining Gold Company must be punished. N contrary, you must also share the responsibility for illegal actions committed together with Geopromining Gold Company," reads the statement.
