Armenia has many centuries of experience in the field of mining. Thanks to the work of Armenian geologists, a large amount of information has been accumulated, a powerful mining base has been created, and many industrial branches have developed, from mine design to metal smelting.
It is noted that tens of thousands of materials (reports, cartographic materials, etc.) containing geological information of more than 100 years (up to 200 years old) exist in the geological fund of the republic.
Sargis Kelyan, Dean of the Faculty of Geography and Geology of Yerevan State University, told Iravaban.net that many consider the geology profession only in the field of mining, but this is not the case. Geology is a much broader discipline that studies mining as well.
“Today we face with the problem of expressing a specific professional opinion. First of all, I would like to emphasize that referring to the field of mining, there are views in all countries that mining violates the ecosystem, so our task is to identify this specific problem and provide a solution to it, rather than simply fixing the idea that mining is dangerous for the economy of the country, etc. – Sargis Kelyan said, emphasizing that this sector has a large weight in the economy of Armenia.
Specialists in the field note that the problem of attraction to the field should be solved.
Vardan Jhanyan, the First Deputy General Director of ZCMS, President of the Union of Miners and Metallurgists of Armenia, says: “It is a very large issue, but we have already started. We have signed agreements with Yerevan State University, National Polytechnic University of Armenia that a lot of work should be done in that direction so that our field becomes more attractive for young people again. The main problem is that most of the young people do not see the attractiveness of the field to become a specialist, currently professions of the IT field sre more attractive today.”
Sargis Kelyan, as a dean, emphasizes the training and professional orientation of personnel in that field.
“I would like to emphasize our cooperation with the educational and scientific system. We have started cooperation with the Polytechnic University and the Institute of Geology in a new format. I think that cooperation will lead to a big change in the educational and scientific system. Both in the business sector and the government, as well as the state departments are oriented to support the sector.
Unfortunately, today the field of geology is not attractive to society. They may be somewhat lacking in school education programs; maybe there is also no awareness about the profession; we are trying to carry out wide awareness campaigns by our means and we have already started it. We receive that support just from our partners in the mining industry. They provide quite high scholarships, and our partners try to provide the best students with jobs with quite high salaries as well”, Sargis Kelyan said.
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