National Academy of Sciences Issues Statement on Amulsar Project

The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia has issued a statement regarding the Amulsar project.

“Considering the public and media's significant interest in the stance of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia on the exploitation project of the Amulsar gold-bearing quartzite mine, we announce that the Minister of the Environment Eric Grigoryan has sent an official letter to the Academy on September 3 of this year (N 1/02.1/12286), in which he requests to assign the Institute of Chemical Physics named after A. Nalbandyan to provide an opinion on the adequacy of the environmental impact assessment of the Amulsar mine within a one-day period.

However, according to the statement of the Minister of Environment, the ministry must present a final opinion on the Amulsar project process by September 4 of this year. We inform you that it is impossible to provide a complete scientific justification for the Amulsar project within the specified timeframe, given the extensive volume of documentation and the wide range of issues related to the project.

At the same time, we would like to inform you that the experts of the A. Nalbandyan Institute of Chemical Physics, in response to a letter sent by the Deputy Minister of Environment Irina Ghaplanyan (2/02.1/20160) on August 29 of this year to the institute's director, have sent separate opinions and conclusions regarding their scientific areas concerning specific issues of the Amulsar project.

The National Academy of Sciences is prepared to provide scientific justification for the Amulsar project documentation within a reasonable timeframe.