Association of Mining and Metallurgy ready to back Armenia’s accession to CRIRSCO. Vardan Jhanyan

The Armenian Mining and Metallurgy Association convened another extended meeting, this time focusing on one of the important provisions arising from the principles of the mining sector development strategy—the transition to worldwide CRIRSCO standards.

Vardan Jhanyan, President of the Association, outlined the current developments in this direction. He expressed confidence that the process should be transparent, that all stakeholders should be informed about its direction and implementation, and that experts from the mining sector should actively participate in the process.

Vardan Jhanyan noted that a meeting was held a few days ago with Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Asatur Vardanyan, Garth Kirkham, President of the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO), and other sector experts.

“Unlike in certain countries, such as Canada and Australia, where markets—namely stock exchanges—play a key role and in many cases handle issues related to CRIRSCO membership, in our case the state plays the most crucial role. Without coordination with the state, we will not be able to move forward in this process,” Jhanyan said, noting that there is, of course, consensus with the government on aligning the sector with international standards.

All reforms adopted by the state will be coordinated with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, and the President of CRIRSCO has expressed readiness to support Armenia in adopting more advanced standards in the mining sector.

“It was decided to establish a working group aimed at Armenia’s accession to CRIRSCO. We informed the Deputy Minister of the position of the Armenian Mining and Metallurgy Association —that the Association represents nearly the entire sector, both in terms of business and expertise, and is therefore ready to provide support by nominating its candidates,” the Association’s president said.

The meeting participants, who included not only Association members but also geologists and other experts representing various organizations, discussed a number of issues. In particular, it was suggested that it would be more appropriate to first establish an organizational group that would operate with the same level of transparency and present an action plan, after which a professional group would be formed to develop standards and align them with CRIRSCO requirements.

Vardan Jhanyan stated that the proposals made during the meeting will be discussed with the Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure at future meetings, and that in the future, the government-approved working group will be accountable to sector experts, with steps toward Armenia’s CRIRSCO membership to be implemented collaboratively.