Armenia\’s Mineral Deposits Valued Over 4 Trillion Dollars

YEREVAN — Armenia’s mineral deposits are estimated more than $4 trillion, which is quite a considerable figure for a small country like Armenia. Hrachia Avakian, a leading specialist from the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences, said to a news conference on Friday.

According to him, Armenia is one of the richest nations in terms of metal ore deposits. He said there are seven proven copper-molybdenum deposits, the Kajaran deposit in the southern province of Syunik being one of the largest in the world. He said copper and molybdenum deposits contain 6.2 billion tons of metals, estimated to cost about $1.040 billion

Armenia has also five explored deposits of copper-pyrite ores in Kapan, Alaverdi, Shamlugh, Lichk and Ankadzor, which contain over 935,600 tons of copper worth $11.42 billion.

“Our country is very rich, especially in copper and molybdenum minerals, scandium, one ton of which costs more than $5 million. Vanadium, lead, zinc, pyrite have also been discovered”, – Avakian stated.

As for iron ore, he said they are quite substantial in Armenia, which have not been yet used. “We have six iron stone deposits, four of which have already been studied and their value makes more than $2,5 trillion”, – said the chief specialist of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic.

Avakian also said that Armenia has eight proven deposits of gold, the largest being in Sotk. There are six proven fields with gold and polymetallic reserves which can be developed for another 300 years, producing each year 1,800 tons of copper, 5,300 tones of lead, 7,300 tons of zinc, 670 kg of gold, 70 tons of silver, 2,300 tons of cadmium, 11 tons of bismuth, 18 tons of selenium and many other metals, as well as several thousand tons of sulfur and iron.

“The cost of proven gold and polymetallic reserves in Armenia exceeds $ 19.4 billion,” he said.