GREEN ACTIVISTS INTEND TO HOLD A LARGE-SCALE FOR PROTECTION OF TEGHUT

The green activists intend to hold a large-scale action for protection of Teghut.

As it has become known to ArmInfo correspondent, it is envisaged to hold the action in various countries simultaneously. The green activists will hold posters "Let's Save Teghut Forest!" in the central streets. The action will last 30 minutes.

By copper reserves, the Teghut deposit is the second biggest deposit in Armenia after the Kajaran deposit. According to the preliminary estimations, the ore reserves in the deposit make up 450 mln tons, copper reserves - 1,6 mln tons, molybdenum reserves - 99 thsd tons. According to ecologists, development of the deposit will not only have a destructive effect on the environment of the region, but will also have a negative effect on the health of residents of the nearby populated areas.

It should be noted that 55 species of mammals live in Teghut forest (21 of them are included in the Red Book), as well as 86 species of birds, 29 species of scutals (11 of them are in the Red Book), and 191 sorts of plants (9 of them are included in the Red Book).

The ACP company's project on exploitation of Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit was approved by the Armenian government in November 2007. It has been repeatedly said that the environmental risks were reduced several times in the ACP project submitted for consideration of the government. Moreover, development of the Teghut deposit runs counter to the Armenian legislation and international conventions.