The project to build a gold processing plant and tailings dump in the village of Zaritap, located in the Vayots Dzor region, has received a negative conclusion. Despite the preliminary approval from the Vayk city council on June 4, the Ministry of Environment has rejected the application from 'GEM Gold Mining' LLC, citing several obstacles to the implementation of the project.
What was planned in Zaritap
David Sukiasyan, the former head of the Special Investigative Service, intended to exploit the gold and polymetallic deposits of Sofi-Bina and Azatek, processing the raw materials on-site through a processing plant.
The company, which holds 50% of the shares, had already conducted work at Sofi-Bina, but has yet to receive permission for the exploitation of the Azatek deposit.
Additionally, the company planned to build and operate a gold processing plant and two tailings dumps in the area of Zaritap. These were to be located in the river basin of Pshonk, a left tributary of the Arpa River.
The plant would occupy 3 hectares, while the tailings dumps would cover 9 hectares.
How the negative conclusion of the state examination was justified
The company was required to present project solutions for the construction of the processing plant, but it failed to do so.
The project for the construction of the tailings dumps did not comply with government requirements.
The Ministry of Environment indicated that the company also did not present risk management mechanisms, which rendered the assessment of risk reduction and control effectiveness uncertain.
Based on all these reasons, the company's application was rejected.
