Under the modern mining conditions, where the company operates in accordance with international standards, the company is simply obliged to record the negative social and environmental impacts that may be recorded in the affected communities.

Sustainable development and environmental Expers Mr. Hayk Akarmazyan said in an interview with Iravaban.net.

“Without managing these risks, any serious or large mining company cannot receive financial resources, use “green” financing, and also cannot have a so called activity license, that is, the community simply will not allow the given company to operate in its community, if international standards are not maintained. Thus, if there is still any mining facility in Armenia today, which does not comply with these obligations, it is difficult to imagine the operation of such a company in our country in the future,” the expert noted.

According to Hayk Akarmazyan, the leading companies in Armenia are active in this regard.

“Companies are implementing quite serious programs, both the Zangezur copper-molybdenum combine and other companies. They have employee health insurance, they have many initiatives for the development and implementation of advanced environmental technologies. I think that this sector is going towards development in our country,” he said.

It should be added that the Strategy for Development Mining Sector states that the problem of the mining industry is not only to mitigate negative impacts, but also to create purely positive impacts. Mining projects that follow the best of both environmental and social standards are based on the principle of mitigating any harm done and adding a positive impact elsewhere or by other means.

If in the past the objective was set on the principle of no loss of balance, i.e. to create other areas to restore biodiversity instead of cut trees or animals left in the impact zone, today they are trying to do more than just repairing the damage and to ensure a positive balance overall.

As a result of the reforms in Armenia’s mining sector, it is expected that not only negative environmental impacts will be mitigated, but also positive environmental and social impacts will be gradually created. These positive effects must sum up to outweigh the negative effects so that a net positive impact is recorded in the country.