Armenian villagers are locked in what they say is a David-and-Goliath style battle for the environment and their livelihoods, standing guard around the clock to protect their land from a multinational mining company.
"The mine will pollute water, soil, and air," said Erazik Stepanyan, a 57-year-old from Gndevaz, a tiny village a few kilometres from Mount Amulsar. "We will fight till the end so that Amulsar never becomes a mine," said 18-year-old Suzi Hunanayan, whose family has taken part in the pickets. The planned mine is near the sources of rivers which flow into picturesque Lake Sevan, another tourist draw and the country's main source of drinking water.
"Lydian has been fully transparent in its environmental and operating practices. Those practices meet or exceed all applicable international standards," the company's managing director, Hayk Aloyan, told AFP.Karine Danielyan, head of the NGO Association For Sustainable Human Development, said chemicals used in the mining process could lead to the oxidation of water in major rivers.