YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The company Dino Gold Mining is restoring the old Geghanush tailing pit to dump its waste there. Vahe Vardanian, head of the company's nature protection unit, told this to reporters during a media tour organized under the project "Promotion of Ecological Journalism in Armenian Regions for Monitoring of Environmental Protection Problems of the Corridor of the Eastern Caucasus Minor." The project is being implemented by the Ecolur NGO with the financial support of the Caucasian Program of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and the World Wildlife Fund (CEPF/WWF). V. Vardanian underlined that the tailing pit is being constructed with the use of modern technologies, and will have a closed cycle. The new construction will occupy not only the area of the old tailing pit but will also raise its level to the height of 50 meters. It means the nearby mountain slopes and land plots of inhabitants of the village of Geghanush will be covered by liquid waste of the enterprise. According to V. Vardanian, it is envisaged to pay compensation to these people. However, the head of the village community Grigor Safarian said that the opinions of village inhabitants were not taken into account during the ecological expert examination. While the new tailing pit is under construction, the waste is dumpted into the old one. Levon Petrosian, head of the territorial state nature protection inspection, explained to reporters that although the tailing pit is a temporary one, it performs its functions. Yet, according to local journalists, the waste is poured into the Vokhchi River without being treated.

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