TI national chapter in Armenia, Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) hold an event on “Corruption Risk Assessment in the Mining Awards and in Related Mining Permit Processes in Mining Sector” in Yerevan on November 27 to present the results and findings of its research. The research was conducted by Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) under the leadership of Transparency International Secretariat in Berlin and Transparency International Australia within the framework of BHL Billiton Foundation funded global Mining for Sustainable Development (M4SD) Program. It brought together about 50 representatives of government institutions, private sector, international organizations, NGOs and media outlets.

The objective of the research carried out in Armenia was to identify and assess the vulnerabilities in awarding mining permits for exploration and exploitation of metal mines and to assess the specific corruption risks created by these vulnerabilities. The Research methodology was based on the Mining Awards Corruption Risk Assessment (MACRA) Tool (Nest 2016), developed by TI.

Most of the corruption risks that correspond to the identified vulnerabilities are related to the process design, while a few of them are associated with the practices and fewer with the contextual factors. The main problems identified in this study are related to the unclear procedure of the geological expertise, unclear procedure and quality of environmental impact assessment expertise, possibility of influencing stakeholders by mining companies, incomplete transparency of data on mines and illegal economic action of state officials on the review of mining award process and the unlawful business activities of public officials.

The key recommendations based on the identified vulnerabilities and potential corruption risks are those regarding the development of environmental impact assessment and secondary legislation field of expertise and development of institutional framework, and safeguarding the transparency and accountability of mining business, including publishing information on the beneficial owners of the mining companies.

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