AVAILABILITYAVAILABILITY OFOF INFORMATIONINFORMATION ONON THETHE STATESTATE OFOF THETHE ENVIRONMENTENVIRONMENT ININ GEORGIAGEORGIA What kind of environmental informaƟ on is available? What informaƟ on about pollutants is available? This Report was published within project of Green AlternaƟ ve “Advocacy for transparent and accountable management of natural resources in Georgia”. The project is Į nancially supported by the Open Society FoundaƟ ons Network. The observaƟ ons in this report express the posiƟ on of Green AlternaƟ ve and shall not be considered as reŇ ecƟ ng the opinion of the Open Society FoundaƟ ons Network.

Green AlternaƟ ve Tbilisi, 2015

© Green AlternaƟ ve 2015 27/29 Paliashvili Street, II Ň oor, 0179, Tbilisi, Georgia Tel.: (+99532)2292773; Fax: (+99532)2223874 [email protected] WWW.GREENALT.ORG Content

Introducti on ...... 2 1. Informati on on the state of environment ...... 2 1.1 Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources ...... 2 1.2 Nati onal Environmental Agency ...... 4 1.3 Environmental Informati on and Educati on Center ...... 5 2. Informati on about major pollutants ...... 7 2.1 RMG Gold and RMG Copper ...... 8 2.1.1 “About us” ...... 9 2.1.2 Environmental protecti on ...... 10 2.1.3 Social Projects ...... 10 2.2 Georgian Manganese ...... 11 2.2.1 What informati on does the company publish ...... 12 2.3 Saknakhshiri (GIG group) ...... 12 2.3.1 “About Us“ ...... 13 2.3.2 Environmental Protecti on ...... 13 2.3.3 Social projects ...... 14 2.4 HeidelbergCement Georgia ...... 15 2.4.1 “About Us” ...... 16 2.4.2. Environmental Protecti on ...... 16 2.4.3 Social projects ...... 16 3. Conclusions...... 16 Introducti on According to Georgian Consti tuti on, with the view of ensuring safe environment, in accordance with ecological and economic interests of society, with due regard to the interests of the current and future generati ons the state shall guarantee the protecti on of environment and the rati onal use of nature. At the same ti me the state guarantees a person’s right to receive a complete, objecti ve and ti mely informati on as to a state of his/her working and living environment.

Pursuant to the Law on “Environmental Protecti on” Nati onal Report on the State of Environment shall be the basic source of informati on for the society. Unti l 2007, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, under the law “On Environmental Protecti on” (1996), was required to publish nati onal reports on the state of environment annually. Since 2008 the Ministry is obliged to prepare such reports once in three years. However, the latest report, covering the state of environment in 2007-2009, was approved and published in 2011. Since then no report has been published.

Pursuant to General Administrati ve Code of Georgia any administrati ve agency from 1 September 2013 shall proacti vely issue public informati on i.e. post informati on on electronic media. Georgia committ ed itself to guaranteeing the rights of access to informati on already in 1998 when joined the “Conventi on on access to informati on, public parti cipati on in decision-making and access to justi ce in environmental matt ers”, so called Aarhus Conventi on.

Besides, for already 16 years the law on “Freedom of Informati on” is in force in Georgia. It sets quite high standards with regard to environmental informati on. However, the openness principle has not become the determining factor in the practi ce of the State. And the traditi onal, depending on the request, practi ce of accessibility of informati on is not suffi cient for the citi zens’ adequate informing.

In this report we will try to show what kind of environmental informati on is available for the public without special request and what kind of informati on may a citi zen receive with regard to so called major pollutants.

1. Informati on on the state of environment As was menti oned above Georgia committ ed itself to guaranteeing a person’s right to receive a complete, objecti ve and ti mely informati on as to a state of his/her working and living environment already in 1995, when adopti ng the Consti tuti on. In 1996 the law “On environmental protecti on” was adopted. In this law the commitments under the Consti tuti on and guiding principles are clarifi ed more extensively; this includes the “principle of availability of the informati on”, according to which “informati on on the state of the environment is transparent and available to the public”.

In the subchapters below we will consider environmental informati on, which diff erent public agencies provide the society with.

1.1 Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecton Pursuant to the Ministry regulati ons it has the following sphere of governance and main tasks:

Implementati on of nati onal policy in environmental protecti on; Public administrati on of environmental protecti on and the use of natural resources (except oil and gas); Organizati on of monitoring polluti on; Assessment of the existi ng and expected meteorological and geodynamic processes, geo-ecological situati on and preparati on of informati on on the state of environment on the territory of Georgia, in rivers and water reservoirs, Black Sea territorial waters, conti nental shelf and special economic zone;

2 Regulati on of nuclear and radiati on acti vity; Monitoring radioacti vity in the environment; Development of nati onal policy of founding, functi oning and managing the system of protected areas, coordinati on and monitoring the acti viti es; Monitoring biodiversity; Managing the collecti on of fauna species from the environment for research purposes; Ensuring availability of environmental informati on; Promoti on of environmental educati on and awareness raising; Preparati on of nati onal report on the state of the environment; Development of nati onal acti on plan on environmental acti viti es; Issuance of environmental impact permits; Environmental impact assessment; Issuance of permits for export, import, re-export and introducti on from the sea of the species, listed in the att achments to “the Conventi on on Internati onal Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES), their parts and derivati ves; Monitoring ozone-depleti ng substance on the territory of Georgia; Climate change adaptati on and miti gati on of climate change; Waste management arrangements; Event planning within its competence for forecasti ng natural and anthropogenic hazards and risks and the implementati on of a single policy to ensure environmental safety; Working out the proposals on declaring or abolishing emergency ecological situati on or ecological disaster zone; Ensuring the rati onal use and protecti on of land, measures against soil erosion, carrying out acti viti es on restorati on and preservati on of ferti lity within its competence; Identi fi cati on of priority areas of cooperati on with internati onal organizati ons and foreign countries, coordinati on and monitoring the implementati on of the commitments assumed under internati onal environmental agreements; Relati ons, on behalf of the State, with internati onal insti tuti ons, governmental, non-governmental, economic and other organizati ons of foreign countries, with the secretariats of multi lateral environmental agreements and internati onal processes within its competence; Developing, adopti ng (issuing) draft legal acts within its competence; Performing other tasks determined by Georgian Law.

Against the backdrop of the expanded list of tasks and responsibiliti es of the Ministry, there is no systemati c informati on on the state of environment and, respecti vely, it is not available to the public. A clear confi rmati on of this statement is the web-page of Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on: www.moe.ge, where such informati on is not available.

Only 2007-2009 nati onal report on the state of environment contains respecti ve data, but it will be only by chance, or if looking for the Ministry prioriti es, that a visitor fi nds this report on the Ministry web-page – without any logic, the report is available in the “ministry prioriti es” secti on. It should be menti oned that “Green Alternati ve” keeps reminding the Ministry about this error and asks to fi x it, but for an unclear reason it remains a problem to place the informati on in the relevant secti on.

3 1.2 Nati onal Environmental Agency Monitoring of meteorological, hydrological, geodynamic and geological processes, the state of environment on the territory of Georgia (air, elevated and underground water, sea, soil); data processing for monitoring the environment, assessment of environment and disseminati on of relevant informati on – these are main functi ons of Nati onal Environmental Agency, a Legal Person of Public Law within the system of Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecton.

According to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecton web-page, Nati onal Environmental Agency web-address is www. meteo.gov.ge, which mainly provides weather forecast.

It should be menti oned that this web-page publishes, with various immediacy (with a signifi cant delay during previous years, with several months delay in 2015), the monthly newslett er prepared by Nati onal Environmental Agency “About state of polluti on in Georgia”. Though the ti tle is impressive, the newslett er traditi onally contains some technical informati on without any explanati on, conclusions and/or recommendati ons:

About the measurement of air quality in three Tbilisi streets, and one steet in Kutaisi, Batumi and Rustavi The results of measurement of surface water quality of diff erent rivers, lakes and water reservoirs; Indicators of radiati on background at Kutaisi, Batumi, Bolnisi, Akhaltsikhe, Telavi, Mesti a, Tbilisi, Poti , Sachkhere, Zestafoni, Pasanauri, Gori, Lagodekhi, Akhalkalaki, and Dedoplistskaro stati ons.

For Example, according to May 2015 newslett er1 “in April the air polluti on monitoring was carried out at Rustavi check stati on in Batumi Street. The concentrati ons of the following pollutants were determined: dust, CO, nitrogen dioxide and lead. The determined maximal one-ti me and monthly average concentrati ons for each polluti ng ingredient is given in table 6:

1 htt p://meteo.gov.ge/radiati on_pdf/54.pdf

4 Table 6. Maximal one-ti me and monthly average concentrati ons recorded in Rustavi

Stati on Dust CO Nitrogen dioxide

Batumi Maximal Monthly Maximal Monthly Maximal Monthly Str. one-ti me average one-ti me average one-ti me average concentrati on concentrati on concentrati on concentrati on concentrati on concentrati on mg/m² mg/m² mg/m² mg/m² mg/m² mg/m²

2,09 0,7 4,75 1,8 0,166 0,095

As is clear from table 6 the recorded one-ti me concentrati ons of CO and nitrogen dioxide in Rustavi air did not exceed maximum concentrati on limit (MCL). Only dust one-ti me concentrati on exceeded the MCL and was 4.2”. There is no conclusion, explanati on or recommendati on as for what the fact means, and why some indicators where within the limit and the dust concentrati on exceeded the limit four ti mes.

The same newslett er states that “in the rivers of Adjara region ammonium nitrogen values ranged between 0.001- 1.29mg/l. The highest concentrati on 1.29 (3.3 MCL) was recorded in Kubastskali river. Ammonium nitrogen was increased also in Bartskhana (1,5 MCL) and Mejinistskali (1,8 MCL) rivers. BOD5 concentrati ons ranged from 1.19 mg/l to 5.99 mg/l. The highest concentrati on 5.63 mg/l (1.9 MCL) was recorded in Chorokhi River; and in Acharistskali River (Keda) it equaled to 1.1 MCL. Besides, iron content on both secti ons of Acharistskali River equaled to, respecti vely, near Keda – 2.2 MCL and near Dabadzveli – 4, 8 MCL. Concentrati on of other determined ingredients in Adjara region remained within normal range: mineralizati on ranged between 55.6- 287.7 mg/l, nitrites – 0.002 – 0.116 mg/l, nitrates – 0.29 – 1.317 mg/l, and phosphates – 0.012 – 0.197 mg/l” – this informati on is provided without any explanati on.

Hence, in view of the above, the fact of periodic publicati on of Nati onal Environmental Agency newslett er cannot be perceived as disseminati on of informati on about state of environment.

It is noteworthy, that Nati onal Environmental Agency has an offi cial web-address, other than indicated on Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on web-page, and it is www.nea.gov.ge, which is specifi ed nowhere except the Facebook social network.2 Unlike www.meteo.gov.ge, this page contains updated informati on about the Agency Management; however the most update newsleter on www.meteo.gov.ge is dated 30 June 2015, whereas on www. nea.gov.ge it is dated 30 April 2015.

So, even the existence of two web-pages does not help Nati onal Environmental Agency to publish valuable for the public informati on about the state of environment.

1.3 Environmental Informati on and Educati on Center To facilitate availability of environmental informati on, public parti cipati on in environmental decision making and access to justi ce, as well as to promote environmental awareness raising and support training and improvement of skills of appropriate professionals, Environmental Informati on and Educati on center, a legal person of public law within Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on system, was created on the bases of Aarhus Center in May 2013.

It should be menti oned that the Aarhus Center, which in 2005 was founded in Georgia at the initi ati ve of the OSCE Mission to Georgia and Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on, had been the only source of informati on about the state of environment for many years. All essenti al documents on the state of environment were published on its web-page. Unfortunately this web-page has been canceled in 2013, aft er the Aarhus Center was reorganized into a legal person of public law. The latt er did not have a web-page for a long ti me; and today, the web page of the center is functi oning in a test mode.

2 htt ps://www.facebook.com/nea.georgia

5 According to 10 May 20133 Regulati ons of Environmental Informati on and Educati on Center, the Center had quite specifi c functi ons, more or less adapted to Aarhus Conventi on. The Functi ons and tasks of the Center were:

To organize and administer environmental informati on system in cooperati on with the state organizati ons, academic, non-governmental, internati onal organizati ons and business sector having the relevant competence; To collect and share the environmental informati on; To create and administer the data-base about the agencies carrying out environment protecti on functi ons, internati onal organizati ons accredited in Georgia, research and non-governmental organizati ons and experts; To collect the informati on on ongoing and completed environmental projects in Georgia, to create the data base and to ensure its publicity; To collect stati sti cal data related to the fi eld of environmental protecti on; To establish and maintain environmental library (including the electronic one); To promote the creati on of a register of pollutant emissions and their spreading; To promote availability to the public of the documents related to environmental review and issuance of environmental impact permits within the competence; To promote availability of informati on related to licenses and permits on extracti on and use of natural resources; To ensure availability of environmental informati on through web-page and other media; To prepare and administer environmental informati on meta base (informati on on public agencies, creati ng and possessing environment related categorized informati on; To research and analyze public demand on environmental informati on; To promote public parti cipati on in environment related decision-making; To develop a guidebook on public parti cipati on in environment related decision-making process and appropriate consultati on to the populati on within competence; To develop analyti cal reports on availability of environmental informati on, public parti cipati on in decision- making process and access to justi ce; To facilitate Environmental Educati on for Sustainable Development within the competence of the Ministry of Environment of Georgia, implying: To prepare and publish the themati c periodicals to promote public awareness raising; To organize and conduct various campaigns to facilitate the public awareness raising; To organize diff erent training courses for target groups (public servants, including judges, also journalists, teachers, school children, students, representati ves of business sector, etc.); To support the inclusion of the environmental components in diff erent educati onal certi fi cate programs; To organize diff erent conferences, seminars, workshops, competi ti ons on diff erent environmental issues; To organize internship program for the Ministry of Environment Protecti on and other agencies under the system of the Ministry; To organize themati c training courses for the employees of the Ministry of Environment and other agencies under the system of the ministry; To organize basic trainings for the new staff of the Ministry of Environment and other agencies under the system of the ministry; To facilitate grants program; To parti cipate in the selecti on of the human resource for the ministry and in relevant acti vates; To parti cipate in the elaborati on of legal acts within the competence; To provide the Department of Environmental Policy and Internati onal Relati ons of the Ministry with informati on

3 The Minister then was Khatuna Gogoladze

6 on the progress of projects funded by internati onal sources, the meeti ngs scheduled in the framework of the project on the implementati on of commitments under internati onal agreements, and acti viti es carried out in Georgia under the auspices of internati onal organizati ons / processes within the competence; also, to provide the Department with the copies of Nati onal reports submitt ed to respecti ve secretariats; To carry out other functi ons under this regulati ons and the Georgian law.

On 5 February 2015 new Regulati ons of LPPL Environmental Educati on and Informati on Center was adopted under the Order of Minister Elguja Khokrishvili, where the following functi ons of the Center were removed:

To collect and share environmental informati on; To collect stati sti cal data related to environmental issues; To develop and administer meta on environmental informati on; To research and analyze public demand on environmental informati on; To develop a guidebook on public parti cipati on in environmental informati on and decision-making processes, and appropriate consultati ons of the public within the competence; To develop analyti cal reports on availability of environmental informati on, public parti cipati on in decision- making process and access to justi ce;

Besides, quite detailed explanati on of what is implied under “environmental educati on for sustainable development” was also removed from the Regulati ons. Instead, two quite vague and imprecise functi ons/tasks were added:

To introduce the principles of “Green Economy” and “Green Business”; To implement and operate eco-labeling schemes and eco standards;

The most recent Nati onal Report on the state of environment, published on Environmental Informati on and Educati on Center web-page is dated 2006, and the “Newslett er” draft ed by Nati onal Environmental Agency – November 2014. Hence, likewise the web-pages of other environmental agencies, the Environmental Informati on and Educati on Center web-page is also useless from the viewpoint of publishing informati on on the state of environment.

2. Informati on about major pollutants Below we will look at what kind of informati on is available about so called major pollutants in the country – the acti viti es of the company; the amount of resources consumed; the amount of contributi ons to the budget, both local and central; the owners; the impact on natural and social environment as a result of the operati ons; planned and/or implemented arrangements to miti gate this impact, etc. As an example we considered four big, in terms of the scale of producti on and damage to health, companies: 1. RMG Gold and RMG Copper (former Quartzite and Madneuli); 2. Georgian Manganese (former Chiaturmanganumi, Zestafoni ferroalloy factory and HPP cascade Vartsikhe); 3. Saknakhshiri GIG group; 4. Heidelbergcement.

7 2.1 RMG Gold and RMG Copper The study of gold-copper-barite-polymetallic mines in Bolnisi region started in 40-ies of the last century. In 1959 the constructi on of Madneuli plant - one of the biggest Non-Ferrous Metals Plant – started. In 1975 the plant came into operati on and started copper, barite, gold- and silver-containing quartzite and polymetallic ores mining, primary processing and refi ning copper and barite and their realizati on. Barite mining stopped in 1990. In 1994 “Quartzite” was founded, which started to obtain gold and silver Dore from stockpiled gold-bearing quartz by cumulati ve leaching method. In 2005, as a result of “Madneuli” and “Quartzite” privati zati on, “Stanton Equiti es Corporati on”, registered in Briti sh Virginia Islands (off shore), a subsidiary of Russian “Promishleniy Investor” became the owner of the companies. In December 2007 “Promishleniy Investor” sold its “Madneuli” and “Quartzite” shares to GeoProMining, which belonged to Siman Povarenkin, Chairman of the Board and co-owner of “Promishleniy Investor”. In 2012 another Russian company “Capital Group” became the owner of the companies. In 2012, due to the change of the owner, “Madneuli” was renamed to “RMG Copper, and “Quartzite” Ltd. – to RMG Gold.

According to the Registry of Entrepreneurial and Non-Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Enti ti es, RMG Gold LTD is owned by: Rich Metals Group B.V. Limited, registered in the Netherlands (96,21% share) and JSC RMG Copper (3,79% share); there is no informati on about the owner of JSC RMG Copper in the Registry of Entrepreneurial and Non- Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Enti ti es, because Georgian law does not ensure accessibility of informati on about share-holders of the Joint Stock Companies.

“Madneuli” and “Quartzite” were one of the fi rst companies where the government, aft er 2003 “Rose Revoluti on” began the fi ght against corrupti on and improving of governance. Today nobody talks about corrupti on at these companies. However, special “goodwill” and loyalty of government agencies to these companies begets suspicion of elite corrupti on. Suffi cient to menti on the fact of depriving Sakdisi-Kachagiani - the oldest in the world gold mines – of the status of a monument of nati onal importance4 and allowing the company to carry out blasti ng operati ons there.

The impact of the companies on natural and social environment should have become a subject of thorough examinati on when issuing in 2008 the environmental impact permit. However, the process was for show and absolutely trouble-free for the companies; instead of the EIA report, a ten years old document was presented in order to receive the permit, where only the dates had been changed. Regrett ably Goga Khachidze, then the Minister of environment, did not consider this fact a gross violati on and signed the order on issuing the permit. Hence there is no comprehensive study of the impact to natural and social environment as a result of operati ons of these companies. However, there are some fragmentary data and studies on the damage caused to the environment by the companies.

The most alarming are the conclusions by a group of Georgian and German researchers (Giessen University and Tbilisi State University joint project). The objecti ve of the research was to clarify the impact, Madneuli ore processing plant caused to Bolnisi region ecosystem and human health. The research (2001-2011) showed that more than half of the territory is seriously contaminated with heavy metals, specifi cally with copper, cadmium and zinc. And in certain areas the situati on is catastrophic in this sense5. According to the results of the research: “irrigated land near Mashavera River suff ers from serious polluti on from heavy metals; there is a contaminati on problem, but no way out – either politi cal or economic; the total amounts of these elements are several ti mes higher than those allowed by European environmental pollutant reference values; the hydro-network covers a wide area, contaminati ng the agricultural soil of a large region with heavy metals; agricultural lands are situated mainly near the two rivers, which contribute to their contaminati on by heavy metals and the resulti ng polluti on of crops. It is especially disturbing given that some of Georgia’s most popular vegetables are great absorbents of heavy metals. It is possible to lock heavy metals and reduce the absorpti on by vegetables using the soil additi ves; but sti ll the contaminated with heavy metals soil is a long-term problem for people, animals and food; people protecti on arrangements against increasing loads are urgently needed.” Regrett ably, neither the government, nor the companies assume responsibility for the situati on. Respecti vely, nothing is done to improve the situati on.

4 More detailed informati on available at www.greenalt.org and www.gyla.ge 5 Heavy Metal Polluti on of Soils and possibility to recover their functi ons – on the example of the Mashavera River Valley. Peter Felix-Henningsen, Thomas Hanauer, Besik Kalandadze, Tenguiz Urushadze, Levan Navrozashvili ; htt p://www.sciencemovies.de/en/01_dig_for_gold_reap_poison

8 2.1.1 “About us”

RMG Gold LTD and JSC RMG Copper have a joint web-address - www.richmetalsgroup.com, which became functi onal recently. Before, all the “news” about the company was available only on the Facebook6. The webpage provides the following informati on about the company: “We are one of the largest enterprises in Georgia and Caucasus region, engaged in mining acti viti es in Bolnisi region, Georgia. JSC RMG Copper and LTD RMG Gold produce the copper concentrate and gold Dore alloys (half-fabricates) by mining and processing copper and gold containing ores. Big internati onal trading companies buy the RMG products. The traders conduct the affi nage (purifi cati on) of the purchased products and melt the pure metals (gold, copper, silver) in the metallurgical plants. Later on the pure metal is sold on London Stock Exchange. RMG is an important employer in Georgia and in Bolnisi Region. Currently, approximately 3000 employees work at the company, 90% of whom are local residents. In 2011-2014 RMG invested about $ 300 million in Georgia”.

There is no informati on about the owners and their experience. As for the “Mission” and the “Vision” of the company, it looks like this:

6 htt ps://www.facebook.com/richmetalsgroup/

9 2.1.2 Environmental protecti on

“We accept environmental responsibility and will do our best to minimize the environmental impact of our operati ons” – this is the slogan on the ti tle page of www.richmetalsgroup.com.

The companies’ web-page provides quite extensive informati on (as compared to previous web-pages) in its “Environment” secti on. According to this informati on, aft er the RMG group became the owner of the company “a new structure of health, safety and environment service has been established. Company has developed a new environmental policy. Chemical laboratory of the company has been equipped with modern express analyzers for determining heavy metals, cyanides and sulfate ions compositi on in water and air. Daily monitoring has been carried out regarding the following:

Water disposal; Emission into the atmosphere; HCN gas volume; Waste rock sites; Pipelines’ integrity; Tailings”.

The web-page uses an abstruse language with a lot of technical terminology (e.g.”Acid mine drainage waters represent sulfate hydrous soluti ons of heavy metals that are sti pulated by hydro geological specifi cati ons of the deposit and exogenous and microbiological factors developed over the deposit”) to describe how acid mine drainage waters are collected and decontaminated.

According to the web-page “Environmental division of the Company is carrying out daily monitoring of water quality, to demonstrate that water is free from cyanide or various metal complexes of cyanide or heavy metals”. The web-page indicates sample collecti on points, but nothing is said about the results, even generalized, of daily monitoring.

The web-page contains descripti on of RMG Gold and RMG Copper “Water Circulati on Scheme” the ways of preventi on of dust producti on.

For summing up we should said that the web-page does not contain the informati on about the state of environment, as well as about the damage to the environment caused by the companies and the planned and/or current acti viti es for its miti gati on; the threats to local natural and social environment caused by the companies and the ongoing and/ or planned arrangements to avoid these threats. As for the submitt ed informati on – the language used is too technical and hardly intended to meet the public interest.

2.1.3 Social Projects

According to the company web-page “RMG acknowledges its social responsibility towards Kazreti Sett lement, Bolnisi Region and the enti re country. That’s why we permanently organize, support and fi nance diff erent social, educati onal, sports and cultural events. Support of Georgian Rugby Union and the nati onal team has been one of the main prioriti es of RMG for years. The company spent more than GEL 3 million for development of Georgian rugby during the last 7 years. Implementati on of diff erent social, cultural-educati onal projects in Bolnisi Region has a signifi cant role in our company acti viti es. RMG renders systemati c fi nancial support to Bolnisi Eparchy. Maintaining and restorati on of ancient Georgian churches is one of the most important subject of care for the company. RMG acti vely promotes sports, healthy lifestyle and culture at Kazreti Sett lement. Every month, freestyle wrestling, junior football and choreography secti ons are sponsored by the company. RMG supports development of educati onal projects at Kazreti Sett lement and Bolnisi Region.The company acti vely cooperates with public schools and a nursery school of Kazreti Sett lement. According to their requirements, RMG periodically purchases and renews necessary equipment for schools

10 and the nursery school. RMG takes care of elderly people residing at Bolnisi Municipality, trying to make well-deserved living conditi ons for them by means of organizing diff erent social events. The company cooperates with Georgia Red Cross Society, under aegis of which a day center for elderly people operates in Bolnisi. RMG supports the day center and its benefi ciaries. During the years, the company has been funding and will further support diff erent charity organizati ons: Auti sm Associati on,”Momavlis Gza”, Movement for Available Environment, “Momavlis Sakhli”, Bolnisi Region Rehabilitati on and Development Support Center, Iavnana Charity Foundati on, etc.”

Unfortunately the acknowledgment of Company’s social responsibility does not apply to a monument of nati onal importance - Sakdrisi-Kachagiani ancient gold mines – which was situated on the company licensed territory and created a problem to the company. The RMG problem was solved simply – with immediate involvement and help of Prime-Minister Bidzina Ivanishvli, and later of Prime-Minister Irakli Garibashvili the monument was deprived of the status of the monument of immovable cultural heritage, then the status of nati onal importance, fi nally, the status of archaeological protecti on zone was cancelled and the RMG “successfully” blew up one of the oldest in the world gold mines.

At the same ti me the amount of natural resources extracted by the company, informati on about the contributi ons to central or local budget, the amount of investments in the company are unknown to the public. This informati on is protected as comecial secrets of the company. However, the company unveils its “secrets” if necessary. For example, in the process of obtaining permits for blasti ng operati ons in Sakdrisi-Kachagiani monument of nati onal importance, RMG published, several ti mes, the informati on about the investments and the amounts of contributi ons to the budget. However, the document in support of the above data (which were increasing in proporti on with permit obtaining complicati ons) has never been published.

2.2 Georgian Manganese According to experts, Georgian manganese deposits are characterized by high quality ore, huge recoverable reserves and convenient geographical locati on. Operati on of the most signifi cant Chiatura deposits started already in 1879. Since the beginning of operati on unti l 1990, 203 million tons of ore had been extracted.

Since 1990, especially in 1996-1998, producti on of manganese sharply reduced. In 1993, on the basis of industrial associati on “Chiaturmanganese”, a joint stock company “Chiaturmanganese” was created. Aft er numerous unsuccessful privati zati on and rehabilitati on att empts, the proceedings on bankruptcy started in 2005 at the decision of Chiatura regional court.

11 November 2006, at the aucti on held at Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on, “Chiaturmanganese” assets, together with the right to mining operati ons, were sold. The only bidder – “Georgian Manganese Holding Limited”, which earlier became the owner of Vartsikhe HP cascades – won the aucti on. At that ti me “Georgian Manganese Holding Limited” was a subsidiary of fairly well known Briti sh “Stemcor”7 company. By the end of 2006 Stemcor sold 75% of the holding to “Private group”. In 2013 “Private group” reregistered “Georgian Manganese” (former Chiaturmanganese and Zestafoni ferrous, as well as Vartsikhe HP cascades, owned by “Georgian Manganese” in the name of its American holding “Georgia American Alloys”8. However, this was presented to Georgian society as “new management coming to power”. Respecti vely, this “new management” accused the “old management” for all the evil and promised to solve the problem: “Our new management aims at reducing the damage to the environment and what we are already doing is the building a new ore-dressing and processing enterprise to be fi nished by the end of 2016. This is a very important for the company project with 20 million US dollar investments carried out by German “All minerals”. This practi cally excludes further polluti on of Kvirila River, at least by “Georgian Manganese”. 9 “Kvirila River polluti on, which historically is linked with ore-dressing and processing, is not a problem

7 htt p://www.stemcor.com/ 8 Підконтрольна групі "Приват" Georgian Manganese відновлює каскад "Варцихе ГЕС", Інтерфакс, 2013-08-09 htt p://ua-energy.org/post/35321 9 “Chiatura in the face of environmental disaster”, 03.06.2015 www.commersant.ge

11 of recent years. It will be removed in the nearest future. For the fi rst ti me the constructi on of a new ore-dressing and processing complex, the investment value of which exceeds $ 40 million, will be built. Closed ore processing, used at this complex shall exclude further polluti on of Kvirila River. Design planning of the enterprise is completed in cooperati on with German engineers and it is the most up-to-date technology in the fi eld of ore-dressing and processing. Putti ng into operati on is scheduled for 2016.”10 According to Environmental Supervision Department of Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on 11 the damage caused to the evironment by “Georgian Manganese” in 2013-2014 amounts to 357 364 708 GEL, out of which:

30 799 860 GEL is due to the failure to comply with the administrati ve requirements, including the wastewater local treatment. Untreated water fl ows directly to Kvirila River; 158 832 GEL - due to illegal felling of the trees in the state-owned forest that is part of the license path (Rgani mines); 2.079 582 GEL – land (soil) degradati on during mining operati ons within the license (Perevi, Rgani, Itkhvisi, Zeda Itkhvisi) 324 326 434 GEL – evidences of illegal removal of topsoil, soil degradati on and river polluti on.

2.2.1 What informati on does the company publish

“Georgian Manganese”, which includes former “Chiaturmanganese” and Zestafoni ferroalloys, and is the owner of “Vartsikhe 2005” Ltd (Vartsikhe cascades), has no web-page. Respecti vely, the public gets the informati on only through the media. “Georgian-American Alloys” – the owner of the companies – has the webpage htt p://gaalloys.com, but it is only in English and contains the most concise informati on about the companies, united in the holding and their product.

The informati on about the impact of “Georgian Manganese” operati ons on the health and social conditi on of local people and/or the state of environment is not available to the public.

2.3 Saknakhshiri (GIG group) Coal mines in Tkibuli were discovered in 1825. Already in 1847 mining operati ons started. In 1950-ies coal mining in four mines exceeded 3 million tons. Aft er the collapse of the Soviet Union coal mining in Tkibuli stopped. Today there are two operati ng mines in Tkibuli – Mindeli and Dzidziguri mines. Since 2006 “Saknakhshiri” Ltd (GIG group) possesses the right to extract minerals and it owns processing enterprise there.

According to the Registry of Entrepreneurial and Non-Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Enti ti es, the owner of “Saknakhshiri” Ltd is “Georgian Industrial Group Holding” Ltd which, besides the aforementi oned, owns: Georgian Internati onal Energy Corporati on, “Tifl is city” real estate Management Company, “Kutaisi Automoti ve plant” Ltd., “Kartuli ludis kompania” (20%). As for The holding “Georgian Industrial Group”, it is owned by “ChemExim Internati onal” Ltd., registered in the Marshall Islands off shore zone. According to independent auditor’s assesment, published on the Company web-page, it is owned and managed by David Bezhuashvili, Member of Parliament for four legislatures (including the current one)12. Non-executi ve director of the Company is Gela Bezhuashvili, David Bezhuashvili’s brother (former: Defense Minister, Minister of Foreign Aff airs, the President’s Advisor on Nati onal Security Issues – Secretary of Nati onal Security Council, Chief of Intelligence etc.), who, at the same ti me is the Chairman of HeidelbergCement supervisory board.

10 “Georgian Manganese” responds to the topic on the company acti viti es”, 18.03.2015, www.interpresnews.ge 11 2013-2014 report of Environmental Supervision Department 12 Chemexim Internati onal Limited is controlled by Mr. David Bezhuashvili, who is the ulti mate controlling party of the Group“ htt p://www.gig.ge

12 Stati sti cs of miners’ injuries (oft en fatal) in Tkibuli mines has been alarming for years. However, in all cases, according to the management statement, the damages are caused by negligence of those injured13.

In terms of environmental protecti on, Tkibuli is one of the most alarming hot spot of the country14. According to 2013-2014 report of the Department of Environmental Supervision of Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on, as a result of coal processing by Saknakhshiri Ltd (GIG group) in violati on of the terms of Environmental Impact Permit, the damage caused to the environment equals to 3 170 760 GEL.

2.3.1 “About Us“

Informati on about “Saknakhshiri” Ltd can be found on the owner’s – Georgian Industrial Group (GIG) web page - www.gig.ge. According to informati on therein “the company is the nati on’s only coal producer and sole owner of economically important Georgian coal mining assets, which are Tkibuli-Shaori and Vale coalfi elds. Saknakhshiri is engaged in coal extracti on, enrichment and selling processes. Under current extracti on licenses, at company’s disposal are 407 million tons of coal deposits. The company having successfully managed rehabilitati on of the two coal mines: Dzidziguri and Mindeli started operati ng new coal-enrichment factory in 2009. Extracti on volumes amounted to 350 thousand tons of coal in 2014. The majority of the enriched coal produced is sold under long-term contracts (1 year or more) to the local consumers. In the long-term horizon, company plans to increase its extracti on volume up to 1.5 million tons annually, both to meet Georgia’s growing demand and to start export sales.”

“Saknakhshiri” Ltd is the only company among those considered in this report, and a rare excepti on among the enterprises operati ng in Georgia, whose web-page contains annual fi nancial audit reports (2007-2014). The audit reports are in the secti on for investors15 and only in English, but sti ll, an interested person can fi nd the informati on about:

The owner of the company; Owner equity and liabiliti es; Licenses for the performance and the amount of resources extracted under the license; The investments and loans; Cash paid to employees; Cash paid to contractors; Dividends declared; Taxes paid etc.

Pursuant to independent auditor’s report, basic consumer of Saknakhshiri product is HeidelbergCement Georgia. Besides, Saknakhshiri product is used by ZIMAS-2433, “Georgian Manganese” Ltd. and “Rusmetal” Ltd.

Besides the investors’ secti on, the web-page contains the most update informati on (again only in English) about technical and fi nancial state of the Company and the prospects. It also contains the informati on about Mining volume defi ned by license (calculated by the state system, operati ng in Georgia and JORC system).

2.3.2 Environmental Protecti on

The Company web-page contains special secti on on environmental protecti on. Saknakhshiri, likewise other companies, does not provide informati on on the damage caused by the company to the environment and/or the state of environment.

13 A miner from Tkibuli “we crawl through the mine like rats” – October 14, 2013, Voice of America 14 “Real Space” – GPB talk show – “Tkibuli in the face of environmental disaster” htt ps://youtu.be/hvs3BLY08U8 15 htt p://www.gig.ge/ge/investor-relati ons/fi nancial-reports/independent-auditor-report

13 The web-page states: “Georgian Industrial Group as a socially responsible company is involved in various eco-projects and events implemented to ensure the protecti on of nature. The company has been acti vely involved and supports “Green” initi ati ves of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources ProtectonProtecti on of Georgia for many years, under which the employees of a subsidiary company “Saknakhshiri GIG Group” holds various acti ons. The company conducts environmental acti viti es throughout the year, which implies the creati on of Tkibuli new recreati on zones. During 2014-2015 more than 150 plants were planted in the city. Acti viti es for clearing the polluted environment from household and natural wastes are conducted at certain intervals. “Georgian Industrial Group’’ is acti vely involved in educati onal and informati onal projects as well. Within the initi ati on of the company, eco-lessons were held for children together with the representati ves of non-governmental organizati on “Ecovision”. Books of ecological profi le were granted to the children. They also studied to produce items for secondary usage from the household wastes. The project “Leave Your Green Footprint” was implemented within the initi ati ve of “Georgian Industrial Group” and support of the famous people. Famous sportsmen, arti sts, diplomats and journalists explain the eco-threats in cogniti ve radio art-videos and call for the society to take care of “Green World”, Saknakhshiri GIG Group” also traditi onally conti nues the implementati on of measures approved by the environmental acti on plan of the company for the given year.”

Based on the above quote one should assume that the company has environmental protecti on acti on plan, which is not available to the public.

2.3.3 Social projects

As the web-page states educati on is a basic benchmark of Georgian Industrial Group social acti viti es: “Constantly improving knowledge of our employees through various programs enables them to get signifi cant career opportuniti es and adds value to the group as well to country as qualifi ed professionals grow. We provide educati onal support to non- employees as well, especially to young people aiming to help them fulfi ll ambiti ons and enhance growth moti vati on. On-the-job training programs for students became our daily concern”.

According to the web-page, one of the examples of contributi on to educati onal issues is sponsoring founding of “European school” in Tbilisi. Besides, the same web-page informs that the Company is providing support in academic educati on outside country borders.

According to the Company web-page the Company outf itt ed the laboratories of two faculti es of Tbilisi Technical University (mining and geological, energy and telecommunicati ons) under 2012 MoU between GIG Group and Georgian Technical University. The Holding provides employment for students and fi nances their studies.

GIG, likewise RMG provides sponsoring to sportsmen, in parti cular: Tkibuli football team “Meshakhte” and Georgian Weightlift ing Federati on.

Against the background of the threat caused by Saknakhshiri to health, the informati on in the “Health” secti on of the webpage - “All kinds of healthcare are no doubt in need for att enti on. We are conscious about how fundamental these issues are for society, especially for those in poverty and lack of access to care” - seems inadequate.

14 2.4 HeidelbergCement Georgia In May 2006 “HeidelbergCement” – the biggest German cement company - acquired 51% shares of “Qartuli Cementi ” LTD. Later it became 100% shareholder.

“Qartuli Cementi ” LTD was registered in Georgia on 29 October 2001. According to the Registry of Entrepreneurial and Non-Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Enti ti es the owner is “HeidelbergCement Central Jurong East Holding BV” – registered in Holland 10 April 1969.

Reorganizati on history:

Enti ty before reorganizati on Operati on Enti ty registered aft er reorganizati on Date

Algae-mineral r/c 2216441660 merger Qartuli Cementi Ltd r/c 204430400 01/06/2009

In November 2006 HeidelbergCement made a statement on creati on of a joint venture - “HeidelbergCement and ChemExim Internati onal Ltd. will form a joint venture to operate the local cement company Saqcementi . Under the terms of the agreement, HeidelbergCement holds a share of 75% and Chemexim Internati onal Ltd. the remaining 25%.”16

“Saqcementi ” Ltd (later “HeidelbergCement Georgia Ltd.) is registered in Georgia on 20 April 2004. Registry of Entrepreneurial and Non-Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Enti ti es provides that the owner is “CaucasusCement Holding BV”, registered in Holland on 2 February 2002.

Reorganizati on history: Enti ty before Operati on Enti ty registered aft er reorganizati on Date reorganizati on

“Kavkasiatransi” The merger HeidelbergCement Georgia 01/06/2009 r/c216439879 r/c 230866435

“Rustavcementi ” The merger HeidelbergCement Georgia 01/07/2008 r/c216291992 r/c 230866435

“Meliza” The merger HeidelbergCement Georgia 04/07/2007 r/c224071359 r/c 230866435

“Kaspicementi ” The merger HeidelbergCement Georgia 04/07/2007 r/c 230866747 r/c 230866435

“Karierinvesti ” The merger HeidelbergCement Georgia 04/07/2007 r/c 216439888 r/c 230866435

Today HeidelbergCement Georgia operates 4 cement plants and 9 concrete plants.

According to the “List of registered and identi fi ed by 2010 stati onary sources of air pollutants”,17 approved under the Order by Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on, cement plants owned by HeidelbergCement have been identi fi ed as major air pollutants.

16 HeidelbergCement expands in Georgia, htt p://www.heidelbergcement.com/en/node/1619 17 www.matsne.gov.ge registrati on code 420100000.22.023.014934

15 2.4.1 “About Us”

“HeidelbergCement Georgia” has no web-page in Georgian. Informati on about the Company can be found in special secti on of the main web-page18. The informati on is available only in English.

2.4.2. Environmental Protecti on

HeidelbergCement Georgia, likewise other, abovementi oned companies, does not provide informati on about the damage caused to environment as a result of its operati ons and/or the state of environment.

The following informati on, ti tled “climate protecti on”, is provided in English on the Company web-page: „HeidelbergCement Georgia takes its social responsibility in Georgia seriously, especially in the regions where the plants are operati ng. Huge investment has been made to solve the ecological problems in Kaspi and Rustavi. Our daily acti ons and responsibiliti es include meeti ng the habitants of Kaspi and Rustavi to establish permanent communicati on and problem defi niti on to resolve any problem that may arise on ti me. Climate protecti on, reducing emissions and minimizing environmental impacts on the producti on sites are objecti ves of HeidelbergCement Georgia in environmental protecti on. This requires high technical standards, which are achieved through the exchange of knowledge across the Group and the introducti on of environmental management at all HeidelbergCement sites. Focusing on environment protecti on, more than 12 million Euros has been invested for a fi lter-changing project for HeidelbergCement plants in Georgia. The Filters Project started in December 2007 and completed by the end of 2008. By using modern technologies, the company will be able to reduce the adverse eff ects on people and the environment. The plants will achieve dust uti lizati on by 99% that means that the problem of environmental polluti on will never disturb the local populati on of Kaspi and Rustavi in Georgia“.

However, at ti mes, the media publishes details of the discontent of local populati on and protest acti ons (especially in Kaspi). The populati on complains of cement dust polluti on of farmland and emissions from the plant.

2.4.3 Social projects

As for promoti ng public welfare of the impacted populati on, HeidelbergCement Georgia web-page provides the following informati on: “As a charity contributor, HeidelbergCement Georgia works according to its strategy where it is more focused on: Children’s protecti on Churches constructi on/schools repairing Educati on

3. Conclusions Regrett ably, all the above clearly demonstrates that neither public authoriti es, nor the four major pollutant companies, discussed in the report, ensure public availability of informati on on the state of environment.

People may get some data on the state of environment from legal persons of public law within the system of Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protecti on, but it is impossible to obtain systemati c informati on refl ecti ng the state of the environment of a specifi c territorial enti ty and/or the whole country.

18 htt p://www.heidelbergcement.com/ge/en/country/home.htm

16 AssociaƟ on Green AlternaƟ ve is a non-governmental, non-proĮ t organizaƟ on founded in 2000. The mission of Green AlternaƟ ve is to protect the environment, biological and cultural heritage of Georgia through promoƟ ng economically sound and socially acceptable alternaƟ ves, establishing the principles of environmental and social jusƟ ce and upholding public access to informaƟ on and decision-making processes.

We organize our work around six themaƟ c and Į ve cross-cuƫ ng areas. ThemaƟ c priority areas include: energy – extracƟ ve industry – climate change; transport sector and environment; privaƟ zaƟ on and environment; biodiversity conservaƟ on; waste management; water management. Cross-cuƫ ng priority areas include: environmental governance; public access to informaƟ on, decision-making and jusƟ ce; instruments for environmental management and sustainable development; European Neighbourhood Policy, monitoring of the lending of the internaƟ onal Į nancial insƟ tuƟ ons and internaƟ onal Į nancial Ň ow in Georgia.

Green AlternaƟ ve cooperates with non-governmental organizaƟ ons both inside and outside Georgia. In 2001 Green AlternaƟ ve, along with other local and internaƟ onal non- governmental organizaƟ ons, founded a network of observers devoted to monitoring of development of a poverty reducƟ on strategy in Georgia. Since 2002 Green AlternaƟ ve has been monitoring implementaƟ on of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project, its compliance with the policies and guidelines of the internaƟ onal Į nancial insƟ tuƟ ons, the project’s impacts on the local populaƟ on and the environment. Since 2005 the organizaƟ on has been a member of the Monitoring CoaliƟ on of the ENP (European Neighbourhood Policy) AcƟ on Plan. In 2006 Green AlternaƟ ve founded an independent forest monitoring network. Since establishment Green AlternaƟ ve is a member of CEE Bankwatch Network - one of the strongest networks of environmental NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe. Green AlternaƟ ve closely cooperates with various internaƟ onal and naƟ onal organizaƟ ons and networks working on environmental, social and human rights issues; Green AlternaƟ ve is a member of the CoaliƟ on Transparent Foreign Aid to Georgia founded in 2008. In 2010 Georgian Green Network was established on the iniƟ aƟ ve of Green AlternaƟ ve. This is informal associaƟ on of civil society organizaƟ ons and experts dedicated to protecƟ ng environment, promoƟ ng sustainable development and fostering principles of environmental and social jusƟ ce in Georgia.

In 2004 Green AlternaƟ ve received the Goldman Environmental Prize as the recogniƟ on of organizaƟ on’s incredible work for environmental protecƟ on, social jusƟ ce and equity.