Minister of Works Robeson Benn says his ministry has denied approval to an application by Muri Brasil Ventures Inc to construct an airstrip to facilitate the aerial phase of its survey for rare earth elements, gold, diamonds and other minerals in the New River Triangle.
On November 7, 2012, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud granted a Permission for Geological and Geophysical Surveys (PGGS) into which is written a guarantee for 18 prospecting licences. Muri Brasil Ventures Inc is a joint venture between two entities – Guyana Eco-Industrial Complex Muri Mountain and Muri Alkalic Complex of Southeast Guyana.
In a statement on December 17, the company said that it was at that time awaiting permission to construct an airstrip
to facilitate the aerial phase of its survey.
“Exploration activities have not commenced because permission is being awaited for the construction of a small airstrip to facilitate the airborne aspect of the survey. Other research activities have taken place,” the company stated on December 17, 2013.
However, speaking with Stabroek News on Friday, Minister Benn said that the company’s application to his ministry for an airstrip was denied.
“They had submitted an application but it was not approved,” said Benn. “It was in process but it got caught up in this whole thing [in the media],” he said, indicating that media focus of the company and how it came by its permission to survey the sensitive New River Triangle caused the ministry to halt any move to grant permission for the airstrip.
Asked whether it was necessary for the company to have its own airstrip for its surveys, Minister Benn said that other companies have used airstrips already in existence to carry out their surveys.
Following the publication of the company’s statement, observers said that such an airstrip located close to border territory could raise security and other issues, such as the possibility of drug plane landings and take-offs. Benn was unable to say where the proposed airstrip was to have been located.
Stabroek News made contact with Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Zulficar Mohammed who said that he was unaware of the application but that it would have been made to the Ministry of Works. He said that upon completion of the airstrip the GCAA would then have got involved.
Who decided on possible mining and when?
Two weeks after it was revealed that permission had been given for an aerial survey in the south-east of Guyana that could lead to prospecting and mining, the government is yet to explain when and how the decision was taken to change a decades-old unwritten policy against this.
On December 10, 2013 Stabroek News reported that Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud had in November 2012 signed a PGGS in the New River Triangle though this information had not been supplied to a committee of Parliament in a November 2013 meeting. The disclosure of the PGGS to Muri Brasil Ventures Inc triggered a slew of questions about when the decision was taken to probably allow mining in the area and why there had been silence about it.
In the days following the disclosure, Minister Persaud sought to deny that he had misled the Natural Resources Committee of Parliament as well as the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) in a subsequent meeting. However, both the committee and the GHRA have said that they were misled. The committee is to meet in the New Year to further address this matter.
Observers say that the fact that there has not been any mining in the New River area in the 48 years since independence is evidence that this de facto prohibition had existed.
Former army heads have confirmed this. Speaking to the Stabroek News, former Guyana Defence Force Chief-of-Staff retired Major General Joe Singh said that when he was at the helm of the army, the policy was that the New River Triangle was not to be opened to exploration.
“I know that it was government’s policy not to open the area to exploration,” Singh had said in a comment to this newspaper. “The government at that time did not countenance any activity [in the area] and as far as I know that policy has not changed,” said Singh.
Retired Brigadier of the Guyana Defence Force David Granger had told Stabroek News that the policy of no activity in certain areas such as the New River Triangle came from two incidents that occurred in 1969: one in the New River Triangle involving Surinamese military personnel, in addition to the Rupununi Uprising.
Granger said that following those two incidents which both occurred months apart in 1969, government at the time took the decision not to have development within 10 kilometres of the border.
Further, Granger said that these matters are supposed to be decided on by the Defence Board and not any single minister or an agency such as the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, since they have serious implications for security and foreign policy.
“Development policies in those areas cannot be determined at the ministerial level but at the Defence Board level,” he said. “The President can make an executive decision to withdraw the PGGS,” said Granger.
Government has since sought to assert that all of Guyana should be available for mining and this has led to the revelation by Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon of a difference between former president Jagdeo and his cabinet during his 2006-11 term of office. Jagdeo wanted to open the New River Triangle for exploration and mining, but met opposition from others in the cabinet. According to Luncheon since cabinet is only an advisory body, Jagdeo’s view prevailed.
Company incorporation
The annual report of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission says that for the year 2012, two Permissions for Geological and Geophysical Surveys were granted but did not name either of the grantees.
However, the annual report of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment for 2012 makes no mention of any PGGSs being granted.
A former Commissioner of the GGMC said that it is not entirely inconceivable for a company to be incorporated after its principals would have approached the GGMC indicating their interest in applying for the PGGS. He said that this is often the case when the principals are Guyanese. He said that they can on their own behalf apply for the PGGS and then have their rights transferred upon the incorporation of a company after a joint venture partnership had been made.
He said that for foreign individuals it is the practice that they make the application as an incorporated entity.
The former Commissioner said that since the 1970s there have been studies in the New River Triangle area looking at the possibilities for rare earth elements and other minerals.
There had even been joint ventures between Guyana and Brazil in surveying the area as part of a larger effort aimed at putting together a geological map of South America, but early results showed the quantities were not economically viable for exploitation.
Publicising of expressions of interest?
There are other issues that raise eyebrows. While Persaud said that the invitation for expressions of interest was publicized, Stabroek News has been unable to find evidence of this. The ministry supplied an image of what appeared to be an advertisement in one of its releases defending the minister, but this seems to have been part of an advertising supplement and not an ad.
Moreover the invitation for the expressions of interest lasted only 11 days. Observers say that if the government was keen on opening up this area there would surely have been a longer period. The limited publicizing of government ads also helps certain deals to go through.
Stabroek News understands that at least one other company had applied for the PGGS and was refused.
Given that rare earth metals were also part of the survey licence sources say there should have been a policy. Thereafter, the bona fides of the permit holders should be examined, they said. One of the principals of Muri, Dean Hassan, worked previously with NARIL but not much else is known. Further, the other principal Yucatan Reis is listed as Venezuelan born though a naturalised Guyanese citizen. He is said to have close contact with the Governor of the State of Roraima and he was seen on the PPP/C platform in Lethem during the 2011 election season as an interpreter for the governor. He also held senior positions in the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association.
