Two of the top ten taxpaying companies in Armenia during the first half of 2019 are from the mining industry. Another two are among the top 100 largest taxpayers.

According to the State Revenue Committee (SRC), the largest taxpayer in the sector is Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC), which is also the largest taxpayer in the country.

The volume of taxes paid by the company in the first half of this year amounted to 29.5 billion drams (US$62.2 million). Compared to the first half of 2018, taxes paid by the ZCMC increased by about 4.9 billion drams or 19.7%.

The ZCMC was also the largest taxpayer in the country for 2018. The company has seen a significant increase in its taxes since mid-2017, after which it gradually rebuilt its position among the country's largest taxpayers.

The other largest taxpayer in the metal mining industry is GeoProMining Gold, which is engaged in gold mining and export.

It operates the Sotk mine. In the first half of this year the company paid 9.1 billion drams in taxes to the state budget. The increase from last year amounted to 256 million drams, or 2.9%. GeoProMining Gold ranks 5th in the list of top taxpayers in Armenia.

In 22nd place is Armenian Mining Contractor, which paid 3.3 billion drams in the first half of this year. The company is registered and operates in Kajaran. It engages in the extraction and transportation of ores. The volume of taxes paid by the company increased 1.8 times when compared to the first half of 2018.

The other major taxpayer in the mining industry is Chaarat Kapan, which bought out the Kapan Enrichment Plant CJSC late last year.

 It operates the Shahumyan gold-polymetallic mine in Syunik Province, producing copper and zinc concentrates containing gold and silver.

Chaarat Kapan operates under the same taxpayer registration number as the Kapan Ore Processing Plant CJSC.

The company’s Facebook page says that since January 2019, the company has been part of Chaarat Gold International Limited. Prior to that, it belonged to Russian Polymetal International.

Chaarat Kapan paid 2.2 billion drams in taxes in the first half of this year and ranks 38th in the list of largest taxpayers.

Major mining company taxpayers include S and A Mining (812 million AMD), Agarak Copper and Molybdenum Combine (777 million AMD), ML Mining (240 million AMD), Lydian Armenia (301 million AMD) and companies whose taxes were under 1 billion drams.

Lydian Armenia, at the center of the ongoing Amulsar debate in Armenia, paid nearly 11 times less in state taxes in the first half of this year than in the first half of 2018.

In January-June 2018, the company's taxes amounted to 3.2 billion drams. Note that Lydian Armenia’s plans to launch the mine have been delayed due to opposition of environmentalists and Jermuk area residents. 

In the first half of this year Teghout CJSC was not included in the list of major taxpayers.

In the first half of 2018 it paid taxes of 3.7 billion drams. Operations at Teghout have also been suspended since last year because of technical problems with the tailing dump.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure announced that Teghout had undertaken engineering and geological and hydrogeological studies of the tailings dam and dam stability research.

The Armenian Copper Program (ACP) has also been left out of the list of major companies in the first half of this year.

Both Teghout, like the ACP, had been a part of the Vallex Group before being taken over by Russian commercial bank VTB, when Vallex Group failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

 In the first half of 2018, the Armenian Copper Program has paid   taxes to the state budget of 5.1 billion drams. But in the first half of this year, taxes have dropped sharply. The company didn’t make the list of top taxpayers.

It should be noted that in the first half of this year the 1,000 largest taxpayers of Armenia combined paid taxes and duties of AMD 511 billion ($107.7m) to the state budget.  

The top ten largest taxpayers alone paid taxes totaling 131.4 billion drams in the first half of 2019. That is, the top ten secured about 26% of the taxes paid by the 1,000 largest taxpayers.