Armenia's ongoing debate over the Teghut mining project became a domestic dispute for the country's first couple after First Lady Rita Sargsyan reportedly signed a petition against plans to develop the copper and molybdenum site in northern Armenia.
President Serzh Sargsyan has approved the project, but the plan is bitterly opposed by environmental groups that charge that the project will destroy hundreds of hectares of woodland.
The Committee to Protect Teghut claimed that Mrs. Sargysan signed a 5,000-signature petition addressed to her husband requesting that the project be scrapped, the Arminfo news agency reported.
Project organizer Armenian Copper Program says the social benefit of the project -- a projected 1,400 new jobs -- outweighs the environmental cost.