– What do you think about the minerals of Armenia? Is Armenia rich of mines?
– The overall minerals of our country are estimated at about $100 billion. This is a smaller sum because as a result of the recent inflation processes this sum is higher now. This is the estimation that has been done during the soviet times. From the environmental point of view we can say that Armenia has medium level of mineral richness. We have about 600 different mines, 25 out of which are metallic mines. Besides that, we also have many mine developments. Our region is rich of developments of molybdenum, copper, gold and other metals. It has some developments of aluminum, titanium and steel, which are subject to investigation. There are mines in all regions of Armenia. These are unrecoverable minerals, except for the mineral salts of spring waters.
– The government is proud of the fact that mining is one of the most developed fields of the Armenian economy. Is it normal that mining is one of the leading fields of the economy?
– In the recent period this field has developed much as it is a normal process in all countries that in parallel with economic development the demand in raw materials is growing. Armenia is a part of that world environment too and this process exists in Armenia too. It is very good that during the recent years mine production companies have been the leading biggest taxpayers of the country. The conditions under which the mine users operate are very important as well. For this purpose, in 2001 and 2006-2007, the corresponding legislation was amended to provide the right on mine development through competitions. Providing payment royalties for secondary mining, creation of a fund on compulsory re-cultivation works are making the mine users do their work better, protect the environment as much as they can, make the corresponding payments in advance and not to create new expenses for the state.
– However, basing on the concerns of environmental organizations we may assume that those requirements are not done well.
– No, I don’t agree with the point that producers are not doing the requirements of the state. I believe that noise is groundless. The mentioned mine producers are not new in this field and they have done the preparation works long before. That investigation started during the soviet times, thus the result of that investigation would be mining. I am speaking about Teghut now. If you mean the 250-300 hectare forest, let’s mention that annually about 900 hectare forests are being cut down in Armenia. In this case I don’t understand how they can solve the problem with forest cutting with such actions. Why aren’t they concerned about other cases of cutting trees and forests? According to the mining agreement the mine user of Teghut shall recover a twice bigger forest territory in the same place. Other compensation mechanisms can be used too. The mine user agrees to invest money. The Teghut mine can be as big as the Kajaran mine. It can open 8-10 thousand vacancies. The main objective of environmental protection and management is using the natural resources optimally but not limiting them. Natural resources should be used proportionally so that the earth can recover those resources in order not to have big losses. For this purpose the extraction capacities are limited. The biggest ecological catastrophe happens during oil extraction, but I don’t know any country that may abstain from extracting oil in order to escape from ecological catastrophe. There cannot be any mine extraction without damaging the environment. The most important thing is not to cross the limits of the permitted capacities.
– You say that the state should make that process controllable and transparent. Does this mean that it hasn’t been transparent so far in case when you have been one of the high rank officials in charge of managing that field?
– During my tenure the total amount of mining fees was about 700 million dram, but now it is 4,5 million dram in case when the mining fee makes 1% of the market price of the mentioned product. In non-metallic mines, where the total capacity of mines is about 500-600 cubic meters, this capacity became 2,7 million cubic meters during my tenure.
– During the recent years mine production capacities have grown and this difference may not be a result of administrative improvement but a result of growth of capacities.
– If you think that the economy has grown by 8-10 times, I don’t agree with you. I don’t exclude the possibility that the capacities might have grown, but on the other hand I wander how you can develop it by 3-4 times a week. During my tenure we have discovered about 3,5 tons of hidden gold.
– Does the budget of Armenia get equivalent incomes from mining?
– Sure. If you look through the list of the biggest taxpayers you will see that the leading companies are mine producers. I don’t have any complaints concerning the environmental fees.
– According to your information how big is the uranium mine of Syunik region?
– According to preliminary estimation that capacity is equal to 30-50 thousand tons. Besides that, the price of uranium is growing very fast. Now, if I am not mistaken, the price of one kilo of uranium is $250. If Armenia exports uranium, it will significantly change its international weight and will become an energy carrier country.
– The role of Russia in the mining field of Armenia has been increased in the recent period. Don’t you see dangerous tendencies in that process?
– It is not important who the investor is and whether they are Russians, Africans or Americans. The most important thing is creating adequate conditions for investment. Definitely the reason why the Russian capital is flowing in Armenia is the fact that the environment is close to them and we have traditional relations. We used to be in one common system during the soviet times. But that capital does not consist of Russian capital only. For example, the user of Kajaran mine is a German company.
– During your tenure your name was allegedly connected with some scandals.
– When you don’t agree with others, when you don’t do all what they want you to do, the best option for them is trying to make you vulnerable. If they were sure of that they could directly say that Ayvazyan had told them to give bribe.
– They said it during the conflict with Global Gold.
– I understand those games. They didn’t say it directly. If anyone said such thing, I would take him to the prosecutor’s office at once.
– If so, why did the government compromise to that company? Why didn’t it prove its innocence during the arbitrage with Global Gold? Why did it execute an agreement with that company?
– I am not representing the government any more and I am not informed about the details. I know that the both parties performed a good faith and executed an agreement. The only company in Armenia which has a right to investigate mines with uranium is Geoeconomy company. Global Gold did not have that right. When I presented the reasons why the license of that company was terminated, they spread rumors and stories about mines and wishes. I have never tried to be an angel.
– Can you say now what mines you have?
– I have spoken about my wish to solve the problem with using ferrous metal. There isn’t such thing in Armenia. If this project is implemented, it will be a big revolution for Armenia. It is very difficult to launch production of steel and ferrous materials in Armenia in case when there is not such production in the region. I am working for this purpose very seriously. There are many developments of ferrous metal mines in Armenia.