Some thirty workers at the Alaverdi Copper Smelter Plant in Armenia’s northern Tavoush Province gathered outside the factory’s office early today and demanded to know if rumors that 200 workers have been fired were true.

Plant worker Gagik Manukyan told Hetq that the dismissals allegedly took place today.

“Plant management has always told us that everything would work out fine. So, we waited. We’ve been paid on-third our regular wages. Now, there seems to be nothing left. We are faced with a situation where they are telling us that the plant will no longer operate,” said Manukyan.

Samvel Badalyan, another plant worker, says he wants to know who is being laid off.

The plant, which is owned by the Armenian Copper Programme (ACP, a subsidiary of Vallex Group) was closed last year after a study found it had violated air pollution standards set by the Armenian government in 2005. The ACP was fined $800,000.

Russian commercial VTB Bank is involved in the matter because the financially strapped Vallex Group used the Alaverdi smelter as collateral for a loan from the bank that it failed to repay.

Armenian Copper Programme Director Lusineh Mejlumyan told the workers that the company had presented three options to maintain the plant to the government on April 20. One of the options involved the dismissal of a number of workers as a cost-cutting measure.

Mejlumyan added that the company requested that the government issue a temporary operating permit. If the permit is issued, the company would invest $4-$5 million in the plant to bring it up to pollution standards.

Mejlumyan says the government has failed to respond to the company’s request to operate at a lower capacity level, albeit on a temporary basis.

She told workers that the company cannot afford to pay the pollution fines levied against it by various state environmental agencies.

Mejlumyan confessed that 210 plant workers have been fired and that another 80-90 would possibly get pink slips in two months.

When asked to announce the names of the fired workers, Mejlumyan responded, “Your unit heads will provide the information.”

Upon hearing confirmation of the dismissals, plant workers once again blocked the railway running near the smelter.

They left several hours later for a meeting with the provincial governor, threatening to return if their demands aren’t met.

They have continually demanded that the government negotiate with VTB Bank and Vallex Group representatives to reopen the plant.