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Ararat
Ararat; Արարատ
	; Ararat
	Coordinates: 39°48′34″N 44°42′52″E / 39.80944°N 44.71444°E
Country	Armenia
Marz (Province)	Ararat
Established	1929
Elevation	825 m (2,707 ft)
	Population (2008)
- Total	20,480
Time zone	(UTC+4)
- Summer (DST)	(UTC+5)

Coordinates: 39°48′34″N 44°42′52″E / 39.80944°N 44.71444°E / 39.80944; 44.71444 Ararat (Armenian: Արարատ; formerly, Davalu) is a city in Armenia in the province of Ararat, about 42 km northwest of Yerevan. The center of a building industry as well as a railway station exist here.

In 1929, the settlement was established and construction began. In 1935, it was incorporated with the village of Davalu. In 1957, the first cement-clate combine was opened. Today, in the city of Ararat, there are two cement factories and the Ararat Gold Recovery Company. The ecology of the city is in danger due to emissions of cement dust and cyanide from the gold manufacturing plants. In the summer of 2005, the impurity of the atmosphere was recorded to be 9.6 times the acceptable norm.

[edit] Controversy over the Ararat Gold Recovery Company

Besides the various enterprises based on the manufacturing of building materials, the city is also home to the Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC) which extracts gold from the raw ore sent from the gold mine in Sotk which is 20 kilometers east of Lake Sevan.^[1] About 0.46 grams of gold is extracted from each ton of sand unearthed at the mines. The extraction process involves first pulverizing the raw material, and then filtering out the gold using a cyanide nitrate chemical process.^[1]

The soupy byproduct of the cyanide nitrate chemical process is both toxic and radioactive and collects in a tailings dam. There have been numerous incidents of animals dying near and around the plant's area.^[1] Also, within the years 2003 and 2008, there have been at least 10 accidents at the plant, some of which have resulted in the discharge of the cyanide soup into neighboring agricultural lands and fisheries, killing off cows and fish stock.^[1]