Environmentalists to hold campaign in Teghut
Environmentalists are organizing a cognitive campaign in Lori Marz (province) that will mark the start of new actions in support of Teghut.
In Vanadzor they will be joined by their local adherents. They will carry out a short information campaign and head for Teghut where the activists are going to hold a 4km march.
On November 2007 the government of the Republic of Armenia approved Teghut copper-molybdenum mine operation for the next 25 years on behalf of the Armenia Copper Program company. Besides the hundreds of acres of deforestation, the mining operation is poisoning the rivers and underground water sources thereby destroying the flora and fauna, and eradicating endangered plant and animal species. Blasting is planned for spring.
The largest tailing dump in the region is planned to be built in Teghut. At Teghut the tailings will be dumped into a nearby gorge. Environmentalists believe there is a good possibility that the toxins will eventually seep into nearby rivers and penetrate into a human organism through air, soil and water, causing numerous diseases. They do not exclude the possibility of any ground water contamination.
