Emma Sargsyan

For many years the Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC) created jobs but they were never   tended for the local residents or for people from neighboring districts. T he foreign owners of the plant would bring in workers from their own country.

“Just look at what’s happening. We are the ones living here and we’re the ones bearing the brunt of all the damage created. We breathe in the dust from the cement factory but we’re the ones who wind up out of work,” said 36 year-old Armen Ginosyan, 50% of the workers in that plant are Indians.”

Up until the end of 2007 Anil Agarval, an Indian living in London, owned the AGRC. The residents of Ararat claim that once the Indians started to run the plant they started to gradually dismiss the local experts and even the laborers. “We’re the ones living in this town, right? And the town is small. If we aren’t the ones to understand what’s going on who else is going to tell us that we won’t be profiting from that plant?” stated 67 year-old Seda Galstyan. Mrs. Galstyan recounted that her home, like many others, was now empty since all the men had left to seek work abroad. “But see what’s happening. Our people have left but these company guys bring in their own countrymen.” she noted.

While the residents of Ararat complain about unemployment the Mayor of Ararat, Abraham Babayan, says that he has noticed signs of an influx of people rather than an exodus. When asked what was the cause of the influx he jokingly replied, “I’m the reason, the Mayor”.

Mayor Babayan couldn’t tell us what percentage of people working in Ararat was employed by AGRC. He explained that this lack of the facts was due to the change in plant ownership and that no one knew anything for certain. When we tried to get AGRC representatives to tell us how many local residents were employed at the plant, their answers widely varied. For example, Mikayel Kukulyan, Head of the Environmental Affairs Division, said that all those formerly employed at the plant continued to work there up until the opening of the cement factory.

Mr. Kukulyan said, “Many of these people thought that they were paying more in wages there than we were. Later on it turned out that not only weren’t they paying low wages, they weren’t paying anything at all. When these guys returned and asked for their jobs back it was already too late.” Another AGRC representative however confessed that the former shareholders had dismissed workers and were substituting them with Indian specialists. In his estimation, the least the ROA government should have done when the business contract was being signed was to see to it that the health concerns of the local residents would be resolved.

Professor Pavel Danihelka of the VSB-Technical University in Ostrava, Czech Republic, said that, “Gold production is one of the most profitable of fields if we don’t include the problems resulting from the process itself.” Gold production is one of the most ancient branches of all industry in general and encompasses a wide scope of operation - mining, ore recycling, transportation, followed by the refashioning of the raw material into ornaments and other objects.

During the past few years and particularly in the past few months the price of gold on the world market has risen dramatically and has reached a record of $1,000 per ounce.

This unprecedented rise in the price of gold has had no affect on the standard of living of Ararat residents. According to Mayoral Assistant Adibek Khurshudyan, for example, the residents of Vanavan have frequently raised the issue of their employment at the gold plant, but nothing has changed. “I justify the steps taken by the capitalist since he’s the one who pays and he expects to see corresponding results. But the local workers haven’t undergone any retraining and are employing the same techniques that they learned during the Soviet years.” Mr. Khurshudyan noted.

“Often people are hesitant about what to do. On one hand a new factory opens up with new jobs. On the other hand, people are dying from cancer and the same fate awaits their children as well.” stated Ieva Rucevska, an organizer with the United Nations Environmental Project.

28 year-old Ararat resident Anush Sargsyan said, “Sadly, there are dangerous things to be found all over. But this is really too much. Either we suffer from environmental risks or else from poverty.”

Ararat is only about a sixty-minute drive from the capital of Yerevan. It feels so close to the capital that one would expect the town to be equally as bustling. “We don’t feel comfortable here, as if we’re pretty much cut off from civilization, said 30 year-old Nune Hakobyan. It’s an industrial town in name only, none of us are working.”                                                     

Professor Pavel Danihelka stated that, “We need the mining industry. It’s a very old occupation. For instance, in my country coal has been used for a long time for heating purposes and this is why we need to mine it. At the same time we must remember that the industry must be operated safely.”

Belated Defenders - The Media Procrastinates and the Public Remains Silent

“Gold mining is one of those businesses that closes itself off to the outside. They don’t want the public to really know what is going on. They conduct their own research if they conduct research at all.” our official source said. To the question whether or not the government has the power to resolve the problems our source answered, “It has, of course it has, but...but...”

Today, the recycling operations at the AGRC have been temporarily halted. At the beginning of the year the Indian owner sold the company to GeoProMining Ltd. The new owners are now drafting the operational methods to be brought on line, the technologies to be brought into the mix and the amounts to be invested. Environmentalists however note that just because the recycling plant is off-line doesn’t mean that the problems associated with it have vanished as well.

Hakob Sanasaryan, President of Armenia’s Greens Union, said, “There’s lead, arsenic, chlorine and cyanide there. How can one claim that the problem has been resolved merely because the plant isn’t operating?”

The company’s representatives can state that they are only responsible for what happens when they are actually operating the plant while the resultant problems and their solutions are matters for the local populace to deal with.

Professor Pavel Danihelka stated that, “Manufacturers must be responsible for what results not only during the time of the mining and extraction processes but during the entire production process and subsequent to it as well.”

This means that the manufacturers must isolate the tailings dam after the recycling process to prevent other problems from arising. “If problems arise, they are obliged to resolve not only health related issues but other issues related to the rights of the people.”

The successful operation of the production process assumes that the plant owners implement safeguards and regulations during the entire cycle from mining the ore till gold extraction; that the government, international bodies, civil organizations, the public at large, the workers, consumers and the media link up to form a working relationship on which basis to go forward. This is the conclusion of the experts.

Media representatives confirm that they are sometimes given incorrect information and that they haven’t been successful when it comes to creating a public awareness of the issues. If this is the case what is the solution to the problem? The worldwide public is aware of an environmental disaster that took place in the Rumanian town of Baya-Mara on January 30, 2000. Professor Danihelka, an eyewitness to the tragedy, says, “It was truly an environmental disaster. 100,000 cubic meters of cyanide and a liquid congaing other heavy metals flowed into the Somes, Tisa and Danube Rivers.”

Local papers at the time had written that, “After this incident public consciousness really woke up, rallies were organized and a public resistance to gold mining, in which cyanide is a prerequisite, took shape. As a result of the disaster potable water supplies were poisoned and hundreds of tons of fish were decimated.

Professor Danihelka states that, “I come from a country that has traveled a similar political road as Armenia. In 1988 we had a law on the books that prohibited the dissemination and exposure of any information that could serve to damage the good reputation of the socialist republic. Twenty years later everything has changed. The people themselves, not the politicians, are the ones ultimately responsible for the state of their country and its future. Thus, the participation of an informed and conscientious public is very important.”

According to environmentalists when the ecological driven movement took on a more national nuance and became more political in substance than ecological, the enthusiasm of the people was no longer stoked. Mr. Hakob Sanasaryan of the Greens says, “It was if public consciousness was extinguished. Yes, I am afraid...but I simply do not see the desire to live in their eyes.”