Today, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan dispatched a top level delegation headed by Armen Movsisyan, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Arsen Hambardzumyan, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and Nerses Yeritsyan, Minister of Economy to Syunik Marz to assess the current situation now plaguing the mining sector in the region. Syunik Marz, a region of numerous mining operations, has recently been the site of worker unrest and strikes over job and wage cuts. The visiting Ministers have been assigned the task of familiarizing themselves with the situation at hand and coming up with a set of possible solutions. Workers at the Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Plant have reported that the Ministers told them about reaching a preliminary agreement with mine owners according to which 300 of the plant’s 1,333 employees will be given a mandatory leave of absence for three months and that there will be an across the board wage cut for the Director on down to the cleaning attendant. Previously, Director Georgy Devatze had announced that 450 workers would be given mandatory leave. The workers strike at Kapan’s Deno Gold Company, begun on November 8th, continues unabated.