The Permission for Geological and Geophysi-cal Survey (PGGS) issued to Muri Brasil Ventures Inc should be revoked since any mineral activity in the pristine southern tip of the country, whether actual mining or just surveying, could have ecological and security implications, according to APNU MP Joseph Harmon. “I am repeating that the minister has to see what he is doing as wrong,” Harmon told Stabroek News.
He noted that fellow APNU MP Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, who is chairman of the Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, had written to Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud in April this year inquiring about the processing of mining licences for blocks in the New Triangle area and drawing attention to ecological-sensitivity of the area as well as highlighting the security implications that mining could bring.
Writing to Minister Persaud on April 3, 2013, Roopnaraine called for there to be an inquiry into whether mining licences were at the time being invited, entertained and processed by the GGMC for blocks in the New River Triangle.
“As you must know the New River Triangle is the last completely undisturbed pristine area of our forests with as yet un-investigated and undocumented riches of biodiversity. That apart, such activity would certainly give rise to a fresh surge of anxiety and agitation from our eastern neighbours, straining and putting into jeopardy the present constructive relations that have developed especially since the settling of the dispute over the Corentyne border,” Roopnaraine said in the letter, which was seen by Stabroek News.
He said too that at worst, any revival of the border dispute may also have grave consequences for Guyana’s national security. “For all these reasons, I ask that you inquire into this development and take such steps as you deem necessary to arrest it,” said Roopnaraine.
In a response, dated April 8, 2013, to that letter by Roopnaraine, Minister Persaud acknowledged the concerns raised and said that there were “no mining permits, mining claims or mining concessions granted or issued to any individual or company” in the New River Triangle.
The minister said that the GGMC had received application for Prospecting Permit Medium Scale in the New River area. “GGMC is obligated to accepting the application under the Mining Act. These applications are subject to review and would only be granted if the area is open for location,” the minister said.
Persaud has been accused of not disclosing the grant of the permission for surveying to Muri Brasil Ventures Inc, which is entitled to as many as 18 prospecting licences upon application.
According to Harmon, the survey permission granted to the company was not done for general information purposes but for the granting of a prospecting licence.
He remarked that the ministry became an entity in January 2012 and in just shy of two years it has granted a large number of concessions. “This is why the letter writer said that the minister is selling out the country. If he doesn’t resign right away he should be sent on leave. People should call on the minister to do the honourable thing and resign. The letter issued to the company must be recalled and the company must be told that the approval will not go ahead because of the ecological and security implications,” he said, referring to an accusation made by an anonymous writer who blew the whistle on the grant.
Harmon also backed up statements by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), which on Friday suggested that it was misled by the ministry.
The ministry in replying later that very day to the GHRA said that it had provided the information requested and that there was no attempt to mislead. The ministry said that the minister and his team made a revelation of the PGGS even though there was no specific request for it.
Persaud had last month sought to assure the Natural Resources Com-mittee of Parliament and the GHRA in separate meetings that there was going to be no mining east of the New River. However, since these assurances were given, the agreement with the company has surfaced containing a clause which compels the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to provide a maximum of 18 prospecting licences in the said New River for a variety of minerals upon application by the company. Harmon said that the opposition will be putting questions to the minister at the sitting of the National Assembly this Thursday regarding the lack of disclosures and the nature of the agreement with the company, said to be interested in mining rare earths elements used in the manufacture of cell phone and computer hardware components.
“The position of the GHRA is in keeping with the way in which the minister dealt with the questions in the committee when he was trying to be very technical to avoid indicating the existence of the PGGS. I want to compliment the GHRA for the way that they dealt with this matter,” he said. “I want to applaud them and let them know that what they are doing informed the kind of questions that I was able to ask in the committee,” he added. Harmon suggested that other civil society organisations would do well to take a leaf out of the GHRA’s book on issues that affect people.
Harmon is of the opinion that the minister utilised the vehicle of a PGGS to avoid the more rigorous checks of the GGMC. “This is a procedure which seems to have been utilised to evade the scrutiny of the GGMC,” he said. Meanwhile, when contacted for a comment on the ongoing saga, President of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc Anand Goolsarran said that the body would be issuing a statement on the matter this week after it meets and discusses it.
