Residents of Geghashen, a village of some 4,000 people in Armenia’s Kotayk province are adamant in their opposition to the opening of a sand mine they say will damage neighboring fields used to graze their livestock and cover the village in a cloud of dust.

They face an uphill battle given that the country’s Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure awarded Anthracite LLC a twenty-year permit to extract sand at the site in 2022.

Armenia’s Ministry of the Environment also backs the sand mine, claiming that any potential health risks are within permissible norms. The ministry adds that Anthracite LLC must allocate AMD 300,000 annually for environmental monitoring.

The government’s Compulsory Enforcement Service has now instructed the Abovyan Community Council (Geghashen is part of the Abovyan Municipality) to immediately allow the exploitation of a sand mine.

Residents Hetq spoke to on the matter say they were never informed about three public hearings on the mine, all of which according to the official minutes, voiced approval of the mine.

Following Geghashen’s incorporation into Abovyan, a fourth public hearing was held in February 2022. Scores more residents were in attendance this time and they voiced their opposition to the planned mine.

According to the Datalex system, on May 10, 2023, an application was submitted to the Abovyan community administration on behalf of 355 residents of the Geghashen settlement, stating that they are against the exploitation of the mine in the area adjacent to residential areas. Then the issue was discussed in the council committee, three of the five members of which opposed the project.

On May 18, 2023, the issue was presented to the Abovyan community council meeting, where thirteen council members voted against, nine abstained, and the decision to lease the land to Anthracite” LLC was not adopted.

Anthracite then petitioned the Administrative Court for redress, but the claim was rejected.

New developments

Anthracite LLC has once again appealed to the Administrative Court. The judge granted the company’s petition, applying a temporary measure that obligates the Abovyan Municipal Council to allocate a 7.7-hectare land plot to the company without a tender with the right to use it.

Hetq has obtained a copy of the same decision of the Compulsory Enforcement Service (CES). Moreover, the decision of the CES can be appealed, but during that time the enforcement actions will not be suspended.

In fact, the Administrative Court and the CES obligate the Abovyan Municipal  Council to provide the land on which the mine will be operated, until the final decision of the Administrative Court on the alienation of the land.

On June 23, the Abovyan Municipal Council is scheduled to discuss this issue. Yesterday, Hetq tried to get clarification from the council as to where it stands on the matter.   The council responded that while it has always been on the side of the residents, there is a court order in place and that the outcome will be made clear today.

A guard post has been set up at the mine, where four guards work in shifts. One guard gave Hetq his phone number as we sought contact information for Anthracite’s director or owner. He urged us to hear both sides and said he would speak with the director and call back. He never did, and our follow-up calls went unanswered.

The Geghashen sand mine sits above the village on a hill that shows the scars of when the mine operated in the Soviet era when sand was transported to Spitak for building material. Older residents recall how iron-rich sand dust filled the village.

Geghashen resident Marat Manukyan, who lives the closet to the mine site, wants the Anthracite company owner to bring his family to the site and attempt to live in the dust-ridden village.

“I'll drive those trucks myself. I'll put that dust on his head. Will he come and live here?? Manukyan asks.