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The license of Amulsar mine operation based on the environmental impact assessment and the audit conclusion has been granted in violation of existing laws, Nazeli Vardanyan, environmentalist, the head of “Armenian Forests” NGO told at a press conference on Saturday. Vardanyan stressed that among the violated laws are the RA Constitution, the Water and Land Codes, the Law on Lake Sevan, special protection sites, number of laws on environmental protection,10 international conventions that have been ratified by Armenia with respective commitments.

“I have submitted all the legislation to the government, voiced about all possible corruption schemes, asked the law enforcement for investigations and opening criminal cases, yet no measures have been taken so far,” Vardanyan said.

The environmentalist informed that during the meeting with PM Pashinyan she has asked him whether the report provided by ELARD independent consultancy group may not serve as basis for withdrawing the mine operation license, to which Pashinyan has pointed to the 35 thousand documents of the case.

“It appears 35 thousand documents and the ELARD report are not enough to call back the permit,” added Vardanyan, pointing also to the fact that no sanitary inspections of the project had been conducted by the healthcare ministry.

“This means that we are still unaware about the health hazards this project poses,” Vardanyan stressed.

Member of the Armenian Environmental Front Levon Galstyan, in his turn, spoke of the social impact on Jermuk town, reminding that no assessment has been conducted to address the possible risks in this direction either. He warned against the mine operation that may result in loss of Jermuk brand and opportunities for a resort town.

Galstyan recalled statistics from ELARD audit report, saying the Armenian translation contained the occurrence of the some alarming words in the document such as suspicious for 12 times, incomplete – 59 times, wrong – 60, concern – 30, unreliable – 7, indefinite – 34, unsatisfactory – 14, deficiency – 18.