In 2013, Cyprus invested US$76.5 million in Armenia; or 12.8% of all foreign investment in the country.

This translates into a 11.5 fold increase over 2012.

Cypriot investment only lags behind that of Argentina, Russia and France.

But Cyprus is a newcomer in terms of large investment in Armenia, unlike the others.  

The bulk of the Cypriot investment was targeted at the metal ore extraction sector. It is no secret that large investments in the Armenian mining sector are occurring at the Teghout copper-molybdenum mine operated by Teghout CJSC, a subsidiary of the Vallex Group.

Teghout CJSC is fully owned by the offshore Teghout Investment Limited, whose 100% voting shares are held by the Armenian Copper Programme, which in turn is fully owned by Valery Mejlumyan, Chairman of Vallex Group.

Vallex Group also owns Base Metals CJSC, Lernametalurgiai Institute CJSC, and Vallex I.T.

Vallex Group has thus founded two new companies (one in Armenia and one offshore) to carry out its project.

In terms of reserves, Teghout is the second largest mine in Armenia after Kajaran.