Minister for grilling over New River survey grant

The survey permission in the ecologically fragile south east of Guyana granted by Minister Robert Persaud and which could lead to mining of a range of minerals is not the customary way in which such applications are handled and this is likely to lead to a barrage of questions from the opposition and also over answers the minister had given to a parliamentary committee.

For the third day running, Persaud and his ministry sought to defend his decision to grant permission to Muri Brasil Ventures Inc for mineral surveying in the sensitive New River Triangle area but opposition MPs who had posed questions to him on November 27 on this matter are unmoved.

A major concern is a clause in the infrequently used Permission for Geolo-gical and Geophysical Surveys (PGGS)  which