AUA Mining Campaign: Equipment To Be Purchased in June

In November of 2014, 1A raised $31,316 for our joint project with AUA to independently assess the impact of mining in Armenian communities. Here is our first update from the field.

The Story So Far

You helped us raise $31,316 in November last year for our joint project with AUA aiming to independently assess the impact of mining in Armenian communities. During our campaign, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) office in Yerevan and other organizations came on board with matching donations, committing to contribute $10,000 to the project.

Several exciting updates took place after the campaign ended. First, the OSCE decided to increase their contribution to the cause and allocated around $28,352! Second, alongside United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), OSCE approached AUA and have now already purchased all the equipment for Phase I, which arrived in Armenia in April, and is planning to host an event in May to formally hand it over (which 1A representatives will, of course, attend and document for you in a later update).

We transferred $24,113 to AUA (which is the amount we crowdfunded minus the 7% Indiegogo fees of $2,192 and 1A expenses of $5,011). Because the project equipment University’s Center for Responsible Mining was purchased by OSCE and UNDP, they will soon be allocating this money towards operational expenses to begin assessments on the field in Armenian communities. They expect to have the equipment purchased by this June.

What happens next?

The money you donated to the “Let’s Protect Armenia from Toxic Pollution” project is going to be used to fund field work by our partners at the AUA. They will be conducting both targeted studies (the preliminary cost of which is $3,480, and includes focusing on one specific site in the village, e.g. the school) and community-wide assessments (the costs of which are $7,803 and includes covering all the critical sites linked to where children play, people grow their food etc.) in 5–8 communities, starting in June 2015.

We’re working closely with AUA to ensure that the most vulnerable communities are targeted early, and that the money you generously donated is put to good use. Further updates will come along after the field work begins, and we look forward to bringing you the first results from the assessments around the end of June 2015.

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Notes:

(*) The costs presented here are estimates only. More robust costs will be available after 1 or 2 assessments are completed.
(**) Targeted assessment refers to work that will focus on one specific site in the community, such as a school yard, community gardens, parks, and the like)
(***) Community-wide assessment refers to studying all critical sites in communities where children play, people grow their food, or livestock feed. These would be sites where AUA researchers will have permission to access. While this may include sites in close proximity to mining operations or tailings sites, it will not include those sites if permission is not granted or if there is no cause to believe that the sites are being used for purposes specified above.
(****) The exchange rate is 1 USD = 475 AMD. If there any fluctuations in the exchange rate, final dollar costs may be affected. This will necessitate readjusting the costs.