[Translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

The Voghji River is polluted by the Zangezur copper-molybdenum plant - Minister of Nature Protection, 17 October 2019

The meeting of the Armenian government...began with extraordinary news: the Voghji River is polluted in Kapan. At that moment it was still unclear, but later the Minister of Nature Protection clarified that the source of pollution was the Zangezur copper-molybdenum plant.

According to the Inspection Body for Ecology and Subsoil...as a result of an accident in the metal pipeline of the Artsvanik tailings dump of the Zangezur copper-molybdenum plant, waste entered the Voghji River. “The river is brown at the moment,” said the head of the Syunik territorial department of the inspection body, Levon Petrosyan, adding that there is little water in the river.

According to Petrosyan, the waters of the Voghji River mixed with the wastewater of the plant; according to him, the accident...had already been resolved, the emergency pipe was replaced...

The plant explains that company employees prevented the accident within 30-40 minutes; an internal investigation is being conducted to clarify the details of the accident and assess the damage caused.

In the polluted area, samples were taken both from the water and from the shore, and they were taken to the Yerevan laboratory...