Ignored Natural Disaster Risks in Amulsar Mine Exploitation Documents: Former Deputy Minister's Remarks

The former Deputy Minister of Environment of Armenia, Aiser Ghazaryan, made a post on his Facebook page regarding the natural disaster risks that have been overlooked in the exploitation documents of the Amulsar mine.

Ghazaryan notes that the company ELARD, in cooperation with TRC, has predominantly carried out a 'prearranged' materials desk study. Furthermore, the risks of natural disasters described in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) documents have not been cross-referenced with the relevant information framework from the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

In particular, section 3.4.5 of the document presented by ELARD mentions that only the seismic risk is high, while the flooding risk (covering the area with water due to the rise in the levels of watersheds, rivers, and drainage systems) is considered extremely low. However, there is no mention of mudflows (a brief explanation — the rapid movement of mudwaters formed mainly due to heavy rains), whereas the cartographic materials used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations indicate that this hazard exists in the area (photo -1, marked in red). Could this be an oversight or a consequence of isolated management?” Ghazaryan writes.

The former Deputy Minister has also published several maps and images.