APNU MP Joseph Harmon yesterday said that none of the explanations offered by Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud on the Muri Brasil Ventures survey in the sensitive New River Triangle are credible and he reiterated his call for the minister to quit.
Persaud will also today be required to supply in writing answers to parliamentary questions on any leases, licences or permits granted in the New River Triangle area in south east Guyana.
“There are already questions … filed by me and are printed on the order paper for tomorrow (today)
which means he (Persaud) will have to answer in writing to,” Harmon said.
Harmon said he remains adamant that Persaud resigns from his position of Minister of Natural Resources as he has not been truthful on activities in the New River Triangle. “He has done nothing more to change my initial opinion that he resigns …what has anyone learnt from him since these revelations? Nothing other than this company (Muri Brasil) saying that they have a legitimate right to mine,” he noted.
“It is established that it has gone past just a finding out about the area this now is about them saying they can mine and we should believe the minister is telling the truth? Well I don’t think so. I don’t think so at all,” he added.
The furore over what Persaud did not disclose erupted after a report in last Tuesday’s Stabroek News revealed a survey permit with Muri Brasil which would eventually lead to prospecting in the New River area. Prior to this disclosure, Persaud had sought to assure the Natural Resources Committee of Parliament and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) that no prospecting was on the cards in the area.
Harmon yesterday also echoed his party’s concern that co-owner of Muri Brasil Ventures Inc. Yucatan Reis, a national of Brazil, appeared on the PPP campaign platform in Lethem together with the Governor of the State of Roraima José de Anchieta Junior in November 2011. “We remain very concerned about these kinds of things as this seems all about financial campaigning that this granting of the PGSS (Permission for Geological and Geophysical Survey) was in recognition of the hard work he put in for them during that time,” Harmon said.
Muri Brasil Ventures defended exploration of the area on Tuesday while signalling that mining will bring “unimaginable” benefit.
With Muri Brasil Ventures Inc (MBVI) almost virtually guaranteed up to 18 prospecting licences upon application, the company said in a statement that such permission is normal and needed to assure investors of a potential return.
In its first statement on the week-old controversy, MBVI said that it was clear that the Cabinet and government are behind the PGGS, raising further questions as to why Persaud did not tell the natural resources committee of Parliament and the GHRA at two separate meetings in November and December about this. The GHRA had asked specifically if the survey would lead to prospecting and was told by Persaud that it wouldn’t. “In response to a first question from the GHRA whether this survey would lead to granting of prospecting licenses, we were assured that the survey carried no such implications. With respect to a second question on the geo-political implications of the survey – given the strategic nature of ‘rare earth’ – we were again assured that there were none. No mention was made of the firm Muri Brasil Ventures Inc. nor the details of the Permission for Geological & Geographical Survey,” the human rights body asserted in a statement last week.
The military has advised against mining in the south east of Guyana and the area is seen as ecologically fragile.
Under the PGGS, signed in November last year, Persaud granted the company the exclusive right to occupy the area and conduct geological and geophysical surveys for rare earth elements, bauxite, limestone, nephelene, syenite, gold, diamonds and granite stones in South East Berbice for a period of 36 months from November 7, 2012.
The key clause of the PGGS also provided that anytime during the duration of the permission, Muri Brasil Ventures Inc shall have the right to apply to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) for, and shall be granted a maximum of 18 prospecting licences once it satisfies attendant requirements. It said too that the GGMC shall treat such applications on “a priority basis.”
The company, which was granted the PGGS after responding to a publication inviting proposals for exploration of rare earth elements in the area of Muri Mountain, explained that it is awaiting permission to construct an airstrip to facilitate the airborne aspect of the surveys. It, however, noted that other research activities have taken place.
One of the questions that Persaud has to answer in parliament today is as follows:
Could the Hon. Minister state with respect to leases/licences/permits issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment in the area of New River Triangle or contiguous areas over the period 1st January, 2012 to 1st November, 2013?
How many leases/ licences/permits were issued?
To whom were the leases/licences/permits issued?
The consideration for issue of leases/ licences/ permits?
Were the ISO 9001 procedures followed in the issue of leases/ licences/ permits?
Could the Hon. Minister also provide copies of all leases/licences/permits issued during the period for the said areas?
