News - Armenia’s Teghut mine, ore processing plant stops operations due to flood disaster

The Teghut copper-molybdenum mine and ore processing plant of Armenia has suspended operations since May 26 due to the flood disaster in Lori Province, Hetq newspaper reports. General Director of Teghout CJSC, Vladimir Nalivaiko, said that ore extraction and processing production was stopped, and the personnel involved in the technology of implementation of the aforementioned work were sent to forced outage due to no fault of the employer. As a result of heavy rain and resultant flooding of the Debed River, the canals intended to remove overflow water—soil, sand, and gravel—from the river pumps were blocked, and the clarification pond, which collects the water used for the closed-cycle processing of ore in the beneficiation plant, was filled. Due to the floods, the Teghout CJSC pumping station on the Debed River was completely flooded with its equipment, and the road leading to the company was flooded in three places. “These effects of bad weather and flooding have made it impossible to continue mining and processing ore and to deliver finished products to buyers. Production activity of ore extraction and processing has been suspended from 26.05.2024 until the listed consequences are eliminated," said Nalivaiko. Currently, the pump of the clarification pond is being cleaned around the clock, the Debed River pumping station is being cleaned of soil and stones, the electrical equipment installed in the pumping station is being checked and repaired, and the road leading to Teghout CJSC is being repaired.