When Will Amulsar Be Exploited?

If the exploitation of Amulsar begins this year, it could have a certain impact on GDP growth, estimated at around 0.5 percent. This was stated today by the Minister of Finance of Armenia, Vahe Hovhannisyan, at a press conference. He revealed that the plan is to launch the Amulsar project by the end of the year, with the impact expected to be more limited.

Vahe Hovhannisyan noted that the economic growth of Armenia is returning to its potential growth rate, which they estimate to be between 5-5.5 percent.

It is worth mentioning that Amnesty International, in its annual report's section on “The Right to a Healthy Environment,” raised alarms about campaigns conducted by mining companies against Armenian environmentalists. Specifically, it was stated: “The operation of the Amulsar gold mine was allowed to resume in January without fully resolving the environmental issues related to water and soil pollution, which had been the reason for protests in previous years. Environmentalists have faced lawsuits aimed at silencing them and have also become targets of smear campaigns by the media. These campaigns included accusations that their activism threatens national security. These attacks were carried out after their joint statement in December 2023 regarding the environmental impacts of the Amulsar mining project.”