According to the data of the Armenian Mining Control Department, 41 people have been killed in mining accidents over the last ten years and many more have been injured or have lost their ability to work. The Sotk mine was reopened in 1998, and in the six years that the Ararat Gold Recovery Company has been in control, nine people have died in the mines in Sotk and Meghradzor, and many have been injured or rendered unable to work. Nevertheless, their employer, the Indian Sterlite Gold Company, does nothing to ensure work safety at the mines, and no financial or other penalties have been applied against the company for human casualties. (On the other hand, however, applicable penalties for violations of work safety rules are miniscule.)

Gayaneh Shahinyan's husband, Vahan Mkrtchyan, a resident of the village of Mets Masrik village near Vardenis, was 47 when he died in an accident in the Sotk mine, where he worked as a welder. Mkrtchyan had been working in the mine for thirty years. His wife says that when the Indian company took over, her husband was fired, and then, months later in 2004, hired back with a three-month contract. Vahan Mkrtchyan was killed on November 3, 2004 , after he had been told to weld the broken shovel of an excavator. With no safety precautions in place making sure the equipment was being held in place, the 40-ton shovel fell and crushed the man. "It was the fault of the shift mechanic and the foremen; they were supposed to provide a clear area for welding work, but instead my husband was found guilty in a criminal investigation, and the criminal case was later dismissed," she said, shocked by the decision of the Prosecutor's Office of Gegharkunik Province.

Gayaneh Shahinyan confirmed that she never brought any complaint against anyone. Ararat Gold Recovery Company gave the family $1,000 to cover funeral expenses. Anand, an Indian Foreman of Electromechanical Division, promised to hire both of her sons, but hired only one of them. "I wrote an application requesting financial assistance for my husband's gravestone, but they never responded. Moreover, they refused to allow my son to return to work after the last strike. They allowed him to work after we went through some connections and after repeated requests, but we still don't know how long the term of his contract is. I lost my husband because of them, but they gave no support, they didn't even apologize for what happened. I have three sons, the kids miss their father very much," she said.

The investigator referred to the Opinion of Armenian Mining Control Department as a basis for dismissing the case. According to the Opinion, no breaches of work safety rules had been committed in the repair of shovel on the Caterpillar 385, by the workers involved-welder Is khan Voskanyan, metalworker Ashot Zakharyan, and excavator operator Armen Sahakyan. Nor were there any breaches of safety by the technical staff at the mine. "Vahan Mkrtchyan's accident is the result of his own carelessness," the opinion reads. It also claims that Vahan Mkrtchyan was not even instructed to participate in the welding work, but "he unexpectedly, and apparently accidentally appeared near the shovel under repair, placed on the ground..."

Though he concludes in the first part of his decision that no breaches of work safety rules were committed by the employees and engineers of the mine, the investigator goes on to contradict himself: "Workers in the open pit committed omissions and derelictions, avoiding which would have excluded the possibility of the tragic accident." And what was the reason for sending a five-point petition to mine director R. Sharma for the purposes of discussing them at a staff meeting of the mine? The petition says: "Engineers and technical personnel of the mine shall be instructed to conduct the repairs of equipment and parts in dry and solid sites designated for such repairs, and at locations specifically built for the purposes of such repairs." Thus, the investigator confirmed the belief of Vahan Mkrtchyan's widow that the mere ignorance of such rules caused the death of her husband, and that the guilty were never punished.

On May 5, 2003 , a year before Vahan Mkrtchyan's accident, 27-year-old Vardan Iskandaryan, an assistant to excavator operator, was killed. A law school student who had been married for only three months, Iskandaryan was the victim of another breach of work safety rules at the mine. All responsible persons were blamed for the death of the young man, including the director of the mine, chief energy supervisor, chief mechanical engineer, and the work safety supervisor. They say that despite a general restriction against moving the excavator in a rainstorm, they forced Vardan to climb a slope with an excavator weighting 200 ton. "The slope was steep, the door of the electrical switchboard was broken and wide open, and he was hit on the head with a 6,000 volt electric shock. If the circumstances hadn't been like that, the young man would not have died," said one mine employee, anonymously. The criminal case was again dismissed, based on doubtful explanations by employees who were unwilling to point the finger at colleagues, and the claim was made once again that young man took it upon himself to ignore safety precautions.

According to Khachatur Babayan, chief specialist at the RA Industry Work Safety and Mining Control Department's Mining Chemical Division, it is an increase in mining activity that has caused the death toll to rise, and everything is being done to avoid human casualties. Nevertheless, there were seven deaths in 2004.

The last tragic accident happened on April 18, 2005 , at the Meghradzor mine. I claimed the lives of two young men, and a third was severely injured. According to the media, a metal band had been damaged at a depth of 1,650 meters, and when they tried to fix it, there was an unexpected cave-in. Garnik Gevorkyan was buried under the collapsed mine-wall, and when 27-year-old Artyom Barseghyan tried to help his colleague there was another cave-in, killing him as well. The foreman suffered severe injuries. The Kotayk Province Prosecutor's Office launched a criminal investigation to clarify the reasons behind the death of the two miners. But Kotayk Prosecutor Grisha Melikyan says the case will most likely be dismissed, referring to another opinion by the Armenian Mining Control Department that claimed no violations, as usual.

"We take testimonials and it appears based on those testimonials that everything was done correctly, and the right decision were taken," said the chief specialist, adding: "It is a bit surprising that the entire band was broken, but the fact remains as it is." According to Babayan, the last cave-in in Meghradzor occurred at the most secure site; the site was secured with support bands, and there was no bending. Before starting, they decided to make sure that an extra measure was taken, and tried to put in a new support so that the mine pressure wouldn't break the timber. Mr. Babayan says the timber used did not meet the quality requirement: during Soviet times it was required to use Russian timber, while now the Georgian or Armenian timber is being used. In any case, he says, timber bands can be used for up to five years, and in this case the band was only one year old. According to the chief specialist of the department, Meghradzor has a complicated geology, the rock is wet. More tragic accidents happen in Meghradzor since the geological structure there is unpredictable. "Meghradzor is an underground mine, and in underground mines, cave-ins are unavoidable. Underground waters rise in spring, and wash the clay layers between the rock, so the rock gets separated," he explained.

Armen Sahakyan, an engineer at the Sotk mine and chairman of the recently established Lernagorts Union of Sotk mineworkers, says that if case they dig 15 meters vertically for mining, they should also do stripping horizontally for at least 7 - 8 meters. But they just do vertical digging, he says. No stripping is being done; the ore is just being mined, making mining activities increasingly impossible. A fissure in a single rock in such conditions represent serious danger for the workers.

Chief specialist at Armenian Mining Control Department believes that the workers care less about their safety. According to Khachatur Babayan, tragic accidents happen due to carelessness of the workers and also due to mismanagement, while despite of the number of accidents being rather large, the Department keeps finding no breaches of work safety rules. "They have a book of instructions, where they should make a record on each instructions received, make a separate entry on the breaches revealed, but they don't do all that. They say they are afraid; they are being harmed for doing so. Omissions were registered by the work safety supervisor mainly, not by the workers or miners", says Mr. Babayan.

Employees of the Sotk mine claim that the employer gives the work safety supervisor certain conditions to fulfill that restrict his ability to take effective measures (the Sotk mine is of vital significance to Vardenis residents, as there is no other working enterprise in town). The supervisor reports to his superiors about the situation, and they listen, but don't do anything. Helplessly, the supervisor takes his own "safety measures"; when he gives workers their instructions, he makes the sign of the cross over them, saying, "God be with you; God forbid that something should happen to you and they fire me."

Mine workers told us that the mining program outlines technical conditions that should exist in the mine, but the company does nothing to fulfill them. Safety measures are approved in Yerevan , at the Mineral Department and other places, but when it comes to implementation, there is absolutely no control; the company takes advantage of this and operates the mine however it wants. "They have destroyed the mine and the work safety rules," workers said. Belaz truck driver Kamo Safarian says that a 6,000 volt electric wire should be installed at least six meters above the ground, but at Sotk, when the wires touch a truck because they are installed lower than they should be, the company reprimands the driver. "When I drove into the pit I saw the 6,000 volt wire and though that birds were sitting on it, but when I came closer I saw those were the parts of the wire bound together; there was no piece longer than 1 meter. I've seen anyone come from Yerevan and climb the mountains to see all this."

During a strike, miners at Sotk demanded, among other things, that work safety rules be implemented, that working conditions be improved, and that the Employment Code of the Republic of Armenia be implemented, Article 181 of which provides the following: "Establishments, firms, and companies have respective material responsibility for the damage caused to workers through casualties and other harm they suffered during their working obligations." Yevgeni Kojemyakin, chairman of the Union of Miners, Metallurgists and Jewelers added: "If a medical examination proves that the person is disabled, then the wife of the disabled person shall also receive welfare, and his children shall receive pensions until they are of legal age."

So far, Ararat Gold Recovery Company has been able to convince the relevant bodies that they have paid $3,000 USD funeral expenses for each accident. Maybe that was true in some cases, but not everyone was paid that amount, or the whole amount they claim to be paying. The victims of the recent Meghradzor accident received only $2,000, and only after repeated claims. A number of people have been injured, and though some have been compensated for medical treatment, others have been denied any compensation. "Getting paid depends on the position of the person in that particular environment, and on how connected that person is, "workers explained. They pay only if the accident is reported, and their employer tries to avoid reporting the accidents each time. Such cases are called "hidden tragic accidents."

Armen Sahakyan told us that during his shift they forced Gagik Sahakyan to repair the excavator connected to a 6,000-volt electric wire. He suffered an electric shock and was rushed to the hospital, and fortunately, he survived. "Messengers were sent to him to ask him not to insist on reporting the accident, and not to complain, otherwise, they threatened to cut his bonus. The guy was forced to agree, and returned to work after time off to recover, in December. He had lost the 60% of his ability to work, but they refused to provide him with a proper type of job, and fired him at the end of January. The wife of Sergey Ghazarian, another Sotk miner, appealed to the unions saying that her husband had suffered an on-the-job injury to his leg, but the accident was not reported and now they were refusing to provide compensation.

People who are rendered unable to do their jobs are supposed to be provided with easier jobs, but instead, the management of the company tries to get rid of them, and to avoid paying pensions as well. David Sukiasyan, a resident of Vardenis, suffered an on-the job injury and lost 60% of his ability, and was fired. Another employee, Daniel Sahakyan, fell off an engine and dislocated his right shoulder. He also lost the 60% of his ability to work, and is now a 3 rd -category disabled worker, but they have forced him to work on the engine again. Sahakyan is demanding either a pension or a suitable job. "He got his job back with great difficulty, but they put him into conditions so that he is forced to resign. They force you to do everything; if you fail, you're fired," union leaders say. They pointed out that some workers with employment injuries need continuous health care, but they don't receive it. "When we raise these issues with the company, they become hostile. The company simply refuses to acknowledge that the staff has established a union to protection of their rights."