YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. With the operation of the Teghut mine, Armenia will irrecoverably lose the dense natural forests, which are situated on mountanous slopes, cover an area of nearly 700 ha and have formed over centuries, together with their rich biodiversity, member of the RA National Assembly "Orinats Yerkir Party" faction Gurgen Sargsian expressed an alarm at the October 17 press conference. According to him, in addition to deforestation, the operation of the mine will cause damage to the forests growing nearby. The deputy explained that in case of operating the mine by the open method proposed by Armenian Copper Program (ACP) company, dust rich in active subsatnces will spead to the nearby forests. Pollution and destruction of the important water formation systems there is also inevitable. G. Sargsian said that their aim is to get a positive solution to this problems from the environmental point of view, for which all possible means will be used. Economist Razmik Terterian said that the draft on operation of the Teghut mine contradicts the Constitution of the RA, the Land Code, the Water Code, the Forest Code, the Code on Earth's Interior and a number of laws. According to the draft, the economic damage will make 2.5 bln drams (about 7.1 mln USD), but in reality, as the speaker underlined, this damage will be several dozen times as much. By R. Terterian's estimates, Armenian Cooper Program will receive a net profit of 2 billion dollars as a result of operating the mine over a period of 15 years.

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