Mining Caucasian Gold: Corporate profits come at a high price, 19 June 2019

...Armenia and Georgia are not only neighbors but are countries in which mining plays a significant role in the economy. In both, the extraction of gold has been turned over to foreign firms and offshore companies about which people in Armenia and Georgia have little information.

Investigating the matter, Hetq has revealed that Russian businessmen, via various offshore companies, are extracting gold from the most profitable mines in Armenia and Georgia. These companies, in turn, are linked to diverse Russian government circles. In Armenia, former and current government officials, their relatives and associates, have been issued mining permits as well...

There are currently sixteen companies that have the right to mine gold and gold-polymetallic mines in Armenia. As of 2019, only four are exporting these goods from the country...

Shahumyan, the second largest gold mine in Armenia, is located near the town of Kapan...The mine is operated by Kapan Mining and Processing Enterprise CJSC...

As Hetq reported last year, no one lives in Shahumyan anymore and the area’s once flourishing gardens and fruit trees have long since been cut down, to be replaced with waste dumps and toxic tailings...