2006 – Founding of “Teghout” CJSC
“Teghout” CJSC was established to develop the Teghout Deposit in the Lori region – the second largest copper and molybdenum Deposit in the Republic of Armenia.
Copper-molybdenum ore reserves at the Deposit are estimated at 450 million tons, the approved reserves of Molybdenum at the Deposit are about 100 thousand tons, copper – 1.6 million tons.
2006 – 2013 – Major engineering and building work of the Teghout Mining and Processing Plant
For the construction of the Teghout Mining and Processing Plant the allotment of a land plot with a total area of more than 700 hectares was issued, including 357 hectares forest area.
During the construction, more than 140 objects were erected, the main of which are•
Large Crushing Section;
Flotation Enrichment Section;
Tailings facilities, including a tailings dump, tailings pipeline, drainage facilities, production water systems and pumping stations;
Mining Plant
Mining and conveyor Equipment Section;
Infrastructure facilities (Administrative buildings, water and draining treatment Plant, Pumping stations) and other facilities.
2014 — Commissioning of the Teghout CJSC Mining and Concentration Complex
During the first year of operation, the Teghut Deposit became the second largest Copper Deposit in Armenia, significantly contributing to the economic development of the Northern regions of the Republic of Armenia and solving the employment problem.
2018 – Stopping the activity of the Mining and Processing Plant
According to a study by foreign specialized organizations the reason for the shutdown was preliminary data on the risks of the stability of the Tailings Dam. Later, these preliminary conclusions were confirmed by the conclusions of the involved consultants. Based on the data received, “Teghout” CJSC made a difficult decision – to temporarily stop ore mining.
2019 – Resumption of Production and MBC Restart
In April – May 2019, the Company carried out repair and reconstructing and commissioning works, performed depreservation of hazardous industrial facilities, received permission to restart the Mining and Processing complex production activities with an annual capacity of 7 million tons of ore per year.
For the entire period of production activity, “Teghout” CJSC expects to extract and process about 47 million tons of ore by the end of 2021.
In order to reduce the risks of the stability of the Tailings Dam, the Company has developed and is implementing measures to improve the stability of the of the Tailings Dam, including:
development and implementation of stricter quality requirements for the daily assessment of the Tailings Dam condition;
organization of artificial lowering of the depression curve of the water level in the tails
additional study of the physical and mechanical properties of the tailings dam;
development of a project to strengthen the Tailings Dam;
carrying out works to strengthen the Tailings Dam with roaches and other rocks.
March 2022 – July 2023 – suspension of ore mining and processing operations
The reason for the suspension of ore mining and processing is the political and economic situation in the world, the sanction policy of European countries, which led to the violation of contracts for the supply of concentrate, logistics chains and cash flows.
Due to the current circumstances, the Company decided to suspend ore mining and processing, and to focus its major efforts on finding alternative distribution markets for final products, forming new logistics chains for product supply, conducting commercial work to conclude new sales contracts, and implementation of projects to improve operational efficiency.
During the suspension of ore mining and processing operations, the Company implemented major Projects on automation and optimization of production processes of the Mining and Processing Plant:
Installation of an online equipment Condition Monitoring System CMS);
Implementation of an automated process control system for the ore grinding section;
Alignment of the radial runout of the SAG mill girth gear.
Reconstruction and bonding of the flotation section pump lines.
Installation of an IR system for online monitoring of the temperature of the tooth flank surfaces of the ball mill main gear.
In order to reduce the risks associated with the stability of the tailings dam, the Company continued to implement a number of measures aimed at enhancing dam stability and strengthening the tailings storage facility embankment, arranged for the artificial lowering of the depression curve of the water level in the tailings storage facility, developed and implemented stricter quality requirements for the daily assessment of the condition of the tailings storage facility embankment, and other measures.
Management systems in accordance with the requirements of the international standard ISO/IEC 17025 were introduced in the activities of the Analytical Department, which includes analytical and research laboratories. The Research laboratory is the first research laboratory in RA, which is certified according to the above-mentioned standard.
Implemented a Project for the expansion of the Open Pit slope and obtaining a permit to mine 105 million tons of ore by 2036.
The personnel not involved in the above mentioned works were sent to the downtime through no fault on the employee with payment for the forced downtime in accordance with the labor legislation of the Republic of Armenia.
August 2023 – the Company resumes full production operations
Over the period of operations, since 2014, Teghout CJSC:
Extracted rock mass – more than 160 million tons, including:
Overburden — approximately 104 million tonnes
Ore — approximately 55 million tonnes
Concentrate produced.
Copper – 729 thousand tons. Molybdenum – 5.6 thousand tons.
Since 2014, over 160 million tons of rock mass have been extracted. By the end of 2024, the Company expects to have processed approximately 86.54 million tons of ore down to the 890 horizon.
Social and Environmental Responsibility Employment: Created over 1,000 jobs. $2.8 million has been allocated to social programs and community support.
In connection with the use of forest lands for production purposes, the Company has carried out large-scale work on forest restoration. As of December 2024, to replace used 260 hectares of the forest fund, 676.9 hectares of forests were restored and gardens were planted for the residents of the nearest community at the expense of the Company’s financing (including 128.9 hectares by planting gardens). The volume of financing of forest fund restoration amounted to $1.8 million.
Acting in strict compliance with all the criteria established by the Laws of the Republic of Armenia, “Teghout” CJSC has transferred $181.8 mln of tax payments to the RA budget during the whole period of its activity.
