New Mining Complex Inaugurated In Karabakh
RFE/RL Armenia Report - 5/1/2016
Nagorno-Karabakh - Officials inaugurate an ore processing plant built
near the Kashen copper deposit, 26Dec2015.
An Armenian mining giant has built a new copper and molybdenum oreprocessing plant in Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the biggest businessproject implemented in the territory in more than a decade.
Vallex Group inaugurated the modern plant late last month shortlyafter launching open-pit mining operations at the nearby Kashendeposit in Karabakh's northern Martakert district containing anestimated 275,000 metric tons of copper and 3,200 tons ofmolybdenum. The company claims to have invested $130 million in thenew facilities currently employing more than 1,400 people.
The Kashen project was launched two years ago amid the depletion ofcopper and gold reserves located elsewhere in Martakert. Vallex'sKarabakh subsidiary, Base Metals, has exploited the Drmbon reservessince 2001, becoming Karabakh's single largest corporate taxpayer andprivate employer.
According to officials in Stepanakert, Base Metals has paid an averageof 4 billion drams ($8.3 million) in taxes each year. By comparison,the Karabakh government's 2016 budget is worth 89 billion drams.
Nagorno-Karabakh - Officials inaugurate an ore processing plant builtnear the Kashen copper deposit, 26Dec2015.
BakoSahakian, the Karabakh president, underscored the Kashenproject's importance to the local economy with his presence at theinauguration ceremony. Sahakian said new jobs created by Vallex willcontribute to economic growth.
His prime minister, AraHarutiunian, told reporters that thenon-ferrous metal reserves at Kashen will be enough to keep the newmining complex operational for at least 25 years. Harutiuniandownplayed recent years' substantial drop in international copperprices, saying that Vallex could even expand its mining operations inKarabakh in the coming years.
Vallex plans to extract and enrich at least 1.75 million tonsof oreannually. It says that the Kashen deposit contains about 56 milliontons of ore.
The company, which has bigger mining operations in Armenia, has hirednot only Armenian but also foreign specialists to build and run thenew facility. "I hadn't heard of a country called Karabakh before Icame here," Johann Murray, a South African mining engineer, toldKarabakh television during the ceremony. "Karabakh Armenians are proudand decent people. I enjoy working with them."
The Martakert mines have been a major contributor to robust economicgrowth recorded in Karabakh in the last several years. "The totalnumber of employed people in Karabakh rose from 41,000 in 2007 to50,300 in 2014," Harutiunian said a year ago.
Thousands of other, mostly male Karabakh Armenians serve in the localmilitary closely integrated with Armenia's armed forces.
According to the authorities in Stepanakert, the Karabakh economy grewby over 7 percent in January-September 2015 on the back of a 32percent rise in agricultural production.