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Against the backdrop of geopolitical developments, Russian businessman Roman Trotsenko's GeoProMining Gold (CEO Roman Khudoliy), which mysteriously acquired a majority stake in the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC), seems to be backing out of its commitments towards the Armenian government, the Past daily reports.

“Our sources tell us that the ZCMC management has given two main reasons for its inaction: the fall in global copper prices and the shortage of funds due to restrictions on the movement of Russian and Trotsenko-owned capital,” the newspaper says.

“The sources have told Past that last month two senior Armenian officials lobbying Trotsenko tried to “test the waters” for granting ZCMC permission for “selective mining” in the competent government agencies as a preliminary condition of the possible settlement of the situation.

“The officials claimed that GeoProMining warned in case of refusal to give it permission, the current financial and economic situation will be regarded as force majeure and none of the promised projects will be implemented: there will be no copper smelter, nuclear power plant or any solution to the environmental and tailing dump-related problems.

“According to our information, despite the obvious blackmail, the government is aware of the consequences of a possible attempt to grab a "fat slice" of the mine over several years and does not want to make such a deal. Moreover, it is clear that selective mining of ore in terms of mining policy in the civilized world, including Russia, is considered a threat to national security.

“According to our interlocutor, Trotsenko's team wants to easily extract copper from rich areas and make super profits. But the authorities must realize that this will lead to the impoverishment and early closure of the mine, because the mine will thus lose its industrial value. Therefore, such a deal can only be made as a result of a highly dubious political decision,” Past says.