There are basalt mines in the Debed valley in the Noyemberyan district of Tavush province. However, some of the businessmen who have the right to exploit them prefer not to be engaged in stone mining, but to import basalt from Bolnisi region of Georgia. This is the case when the Bolnisi region basalt mines are poorer than mines in Noyemberyan, or Lori.
The reason is that basalt in Georgia is about three times cheaper than in Armenia. The stone mining businessmen reported that while importing basalt from Georgia they pay a considerable amount of customs duty per stone weight in Bagratashen customs checkpoint, but as a result, the Georgian baseball turns out to be cheaper. The reason for this is that the payment in kind for the mined basalt in Georgia is low.
According to a mining businessman from Noyemberyan, the payment in kind for stone mining in Armenia is high, it is almost equal to the payment in kind payment for gold mining.
According to the businessman, the reason is that the owners of gold mines operating in Armenia are people connected with the authorities. For a long time, Armenia has been importing basalt from neighboring Georgia.
Voskan SARGSYAN
