Research centers of Norway and Sweden say 45,000 tons of sulfur dioxide accumulate on the territory of Armenia every year with 25,000 tons being from mining industry exhaust.

“We have almost totally used the resources of mining in Armenia, but the state continues to promote whatever is left to give foreign investors an even broader field to exploit the mines of Armenia and spoil nature,” says Vahagn Israelyan, geodesist at the National Academy of Sciences pointing to the exploitation of gold mines in Zod and Drmbon as well as the Teghut mine.