Pollution threatens Armenians living near mines, 12 March 2024

When three-year-old Valentina Mirzoyan starts to feel faint, her parents already know what to do: they call the doctor, look for a car to get to the hospital, and try to keep her from losing consciousness...“The child turns white, the color drains from her body in a second,” her mother, Narine Kirakosyan, explains. “We have been going to hospitals for two years...They diagnosed it as allergic bronchitis.”

She recalls the doctor’s reaction when she told him they lived just a few hundred meters from a mining waste site, infamous for its toxic odors. 

“The doctor stated that its smell is very dangerous for the child, though they didn't provide any written documentation,” Narine says. 

The Mirzoyans live next door to a 13.7 hectare mining waste site, Nahatak. The site, owned by Akhtala mining and processing plant, was set to be reclaimed - a process that would have closed the area to new waste in 2021, but continues to function. Both also suffer from health problems, as do their neighbors. In total, 13 settlements with around 40,000 people live near the mining in Lori region.

“We all suffer from headaches, the entire family is unwell,” Kirakosyan says. “I have diabetes and high blood pressure. My condition worsens rapidly, all due to the air quality. And we are not alone; the whole village is in the same situation. During windy days, the situation becomes even more concerning.”

Hrach Mirzoyan, Valentina’s father, explains that on windy days, leftover materials from the nearby mining process - known as tailings - are carried into the family’s yard. “After rain, the situation becomes unbearable; an unpleasant smell permeates everything. We are afraid to consume anything from our garden”...

...[S]tudies conducted in 2018 and 2021 have found evidence of hazardous contamination in the area. For instance, urine samples from residents of nearby communities - Akhtala, Shamlugh, and Chochkan - discovered high levels of arsenic in their urine samples. The highest levels were found in children living in the Mirzoyan’s village, Mets Ayrum...

The results of the studies have not helped the Mirzoyan family or other residents, however. Dulgaryan, the president of the Community Cohesion and Support Center, notes that the health ministry expressed interest in the studies’ findings and invited World Health Organization specialists to study four communities but the plan was disrupted by the 2020 pandemic. According to Dulgarian, the ministry did not take any action after that...

The ministry...noted that its own chemical tests from soil samples taken from around the country, including areas commonly thought to be ecologically clean, revealed concentrations of heavy metals such as copper, zinc, arsenic, chromium, lead, and others. Currently it attributes the findings to the country’s diverse geographical features and other causes...