10-year Pagan lease, 100M metric tons of pozzolan eyed

After a preliminary visit to Pagan on Friday, Japanese investors said they are looking at leasing for 10 to 15 years roughly 2,000 hectares of public land on the island to mine what they consider “best quality” pozzolan and to recycle pre-treated tsunami debris that they plan to bring in from Japan at the soonest possible time.

This early, however, some CNMI residents are expressing opposition to what they describe as the “desecration” of Pagan by turning it into a dumping ground. Others said there may be more to it than pozzolan mining and tsunami debris disposal and recycling.

The Japanese investors, aware of these sentiments, are trying to quell public opposition to their project.

The Japanese investors said the tsunami debris will be pre-treated, non-toxic, and non-radioactive, citing Japanese and international laws that prohibit shipment of highly toxic materials from one country to another. At least 80 percent of the tsunami debris will be recycled on Pagan and brought back to Japan and other destinations, they added.

The tsunami debris will be coming from two prefectures in Japan-Miyagi and Iwate, said the Japanese investors. These are north of Fukushima where the damaged nuclear power plants are located, they said.

Oku Shigeharu, chairman of Japan Southwest Islands Security Institute, and one of those who visited Pagan on Friday, said that depending on the results of further study of Pagan, they are interested in mining all pozzolan deposits on the island for a period of 10 to 15 years.

He said they do not plan to lease the whole island but only about 2,000 hectares of it, including the pozzolan mining area and the site where tsunami debris will be disposed of and recycled.

The CNMI will generate revenue from the multimillion land lease, from royalty fees as a result of pozzolan mining, new jobs for local residents, and other multiplier impact on the economy, the investors said.

“In my personal opinion, maybe pozzolan [mining] can help save the CNMI economy,” Shigeharu told Saipan Tribune in an interview on Saturday morning, through the help of Pagan (CNMI) Development Corp. treasurer/secretary Minoru Imai, who served as the Japanese-English translator.

There’s at least 100 million metric tons of pozzolan on Pagan, said Pagan (CNMI) Development Corp. chair Juan Demapan, citing a previous study.

Isamu Tokuichi, chairman of the board of Kansai Oil Co. and president of New Energy Corp., led a six-member group of investors to the CNMI from Wednesday to Sunday to discuss with CNMI officials their plans for Pagan.

The Japanese investors shared more information about their plans on Pagan during an interview with Saipan Tribune on Saturday morning, but pointed out that the figures are just rough estimates at this time, pending more research and business planning.

As of now, Oku and Tokuichi said they do not have figures as to how much they are willing to invest on the Pagan project but reiterated that on equipment alone, they would need roughly $20 million.

There’s also no telling at this time whether their Pagan project would require them to help develop a functioning seaport, a small airstrip, or power and water services on Pagan.

Oku showed samples of pozzolan he brought with him from a day trip to Pagan on Friday.

He said in his opinion, Pagan pozzolan is “best quality.” But he said he will bring the samples to a Japanese research institute for laboratory analysis and evaluation.

Pozzolan is a siliceous volcanic ash used to produce hydraulic cement.

Oku said they will be back to the CNMI in three weeks, bringing with them engineers, scientists, and other experts to further study and assess Pagan.

The investors said it is costly to ship pozzolan from Pagan to Japan. One way to help offset the cost is to bring pre-treated tsunami waste from Japan to Pagan, and this way, the ship won’t sail empty going to Pagan.

The Japanese government pays prefectures that want to take in debris from the March 2011 tsunami and some of these prefectures are contracting with private investors to dispose of these debris, said Rep. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan).

Tenorio said the CNMI could generate more revenue by accepting tsunami debris to be disposed of and recycled on Pagan, than from royalty fee related to pozzolan mining.

Demapan said for decades, neither the CNMI government nor a private investor has succeeded in mining pozzolan on Pagan because of the costly nature of the undertaking.

Oku, through Imai, said they are intent in pursuing their proposal to mine pozzolan on Pagan and ship recyclable tsunami debris there.

The Japanese investors met again with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos on Friday night, after meeting with them on Thursday morning.

Fitial and Inos are asking a business plan from the group of investors. The investors said this will be coming.

Trip to Pagan

Two of the investors went to Pagan on Friday-Oku and Shoichi Higashinaka, president of Kansai Oil Co.

They were accompanied by Japan-based television reporter Yusuke Nakano of Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc. and Saipan-based TV reporter Young Lee of KSPN 2.

The group of investors chartered a flight to Pagan at a cost of $6,200, Imai and Demapan said.

Demapan and Imai said the group left Saipan for Pagan at 8am. The trip going there took two hours. They said the group spent roughly three hours on Pagan, before coming back, which also took some two hours. Imai said the group arrived on Saipan around 3:30pm.

Oku, through Imai, said they used what they believe are “mountain bikes” to go around a portion of Pagan, including the area where the pozzolan deposits are.

He said they met with the four male residents of Pagan, and described them as helpful and nice people.