Lithium Mining
The Armenian National Committee UK (ANC) has criticised Anglo Asian Mining for “exploiting” a long-standing conflict on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border for its financial gain.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, named for the region in south-western Asia between the two countries, has persisted since 1988, when Armenia demanded that the Soviet Union transfer control of the region from Azerbaijan to Armenia. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, with both ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis calling the area home, hostilities have continued between the now-independent states of Armenia and Azerbaijan, alternating between guerrilla wars and full-scale conflicts.
On October 27, Anglo Asian applauded what it called the “liberation” of the Zangilan region of the area, a mineral-rich area that contains the Vejnaly mining area, which the company and Azerbaijan have agreed to mine. The Zangilan region was reported have close to 3,000t of copper and 29 mullion cubic metres of building stone in 1993 by the state’s National Geological Survey, and while the conflict has prevented more recent mineral exploration work, Anglo Asian is optimistic that the region will prove to be a profitable investment.
“Vejnaly is held under the company’s existing production sharing agreement (PSA),” explained Anglo Asian in the October press release. “However, the PSA will only commence in respect of Vejnaly upon notification by the Government of Azerbaijan to the company of the cessation of all hostilities and that it is safe to access the district.
“This notification will therefore ‘reset’ the PSA to year zero for contract areas in the occupied territories. Accordingly, the company then has the right to explore the contract area for up to five years and then develop and produce for 15 years with two five-year extensions allowed.”
However, Anglo Asian’s support for potential mining development in the region has seen the company receive criticism for its economic interest in what many consider to be a humanitarian crisis. The ANC in particular has taken issue with the miner’s use of the word “liberation” to refer to the removal of Armenian forces by Azerbaijan, which it argues ignores many of the valid Armenian claims to the region.
“It is sad that a London-listed company should think it appropriate to put out a press release celebrating the ‘liberation’ of land that it plans to exploit for commercial gain,” said the ANC. “That ‘liberation’ has come about through the expulsion of the ethnic Armenians who lived there.
“We believe Anglo Asian Mining is taking advantage of the war and exploiting an unstable region to maximise profits for its investors, and without a care in the world for how the conflict is impacting civilians. This is shameful.”
By JP Cassey
