Workers at Angouran Mine Block Access Road

Fars News Agency reported that a group of laid-off workers from the Angouran mine in Zanjan province have blocked the access road to the mine. According to the report on Tuesday (April 21), these workers also prevented the movement and loading of trucks from the Angouran mine. The report states that several residents of the nearby village of Qaleh Joq joined the protesting workers. As noted by Fars, the reason for the villagers' support for the workers is the unemployment of some farmers from Qaleh Joq due to the destruction of agricultural lands within two kilometers of the Angouran mine. Fars also mentioned that this is the second time that the access road to the Angouran mine has been blocked. The Angouran mine, located in the Mahneshan county of Zanjan province, was once known as the largest lead and zinc mine in the Middle East and had previously laid off a number of its workers. Hossein Faramarzloo, a representative of the Mahneshan County Council in the Zanjan Islamic Council, criticized that out of 500 workers employed at this mine, only a few are local residents of the Angouran area. He stated that the mine contractor has laid off local workers, most of whom live in villages within a three-kilometer radius of the Angouran mine, while keeping non-local workers employed under equal conditions. According to Faramarzloo, 'Despite more than half a century of operation and extraction of materials from the Angouran mine... this mine has the highest share in export revenue and development and employment in the province, young people from Mahneshan County have to migrate to the outskirts of Tehran and Qazvin in search of work.'