167 mineral deposits had been discovered in the economic zone of Eastern Zangezur and Karabakh until 1991, and their reserves were calculated. During the 30-year occupation period, the Armenian occupying regime illegally exploited many of these deposits, especially large ore deposits, Ali Aliyev, Chairman of the Management Board of the Geological Exploration Agency, told APA.
He said that after the liberation of our territories from the occupation, the foreign companies operating in the large ore deposits Vejnali, Söyudlü, Gizilbulag, and Demirli were removed from the country. However, recent information provided by the relevant institutions revealed that the Armenian occupation regime had resumed its activities mainly in the Demirli copper-molybdenum deposit.
“The participation of citizens of foreign countries was previously observed in restoring the activity. In this case, the activity of Ruben Vardanyan, a Russian citizen of Armenian origin, was identified. Considering this fact, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources proposed the organization and conduct of environmental monitoring in the mentioned areas in the initial stage to eliminate the exploitation of mineral raw materials resources in the region and the elimination of the ecological disaster.
Thus, on December 3, a group consisting of experts from the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR), AzerGold, and the State Committee on Property Issues left for Shusha and from there to Khojaly and met with the head of the peacekeepers, Andrey Volkov. During the meeting, it was agreed to prepare a road map for conducting monitoring in those areas, and the project was soon prepared by the Ministry.
On December 7, the project was discussed with the commander and assistants of peacekeepers and accepted. It was agreed to provide access to the territory of Demirli and Gizilbulag deposits to carry out monitoring as soon as possible. However, in the meeting that took place after three days, we tried to enter that area, but the very aggressive opposition of the Armenian community and the inactivity of the peacekeepers made it impossible to enter the territory of the fields. Nevertheless, as a result of observations from the area close to the deposit, it was determined that very large-scale and serious exploitation works are being carried out in the Demirli deposit.
Source: Azeri-Press News Agency