MPLA board concerned about Pagan mining bill

The Marianas Public Lands Authority Board of Directors has expressed concern about a bill recently passed at the House of Representatives that aims to suspend pozzolan mining on Pagan.

In particular, the board believes that forming a task force by law, as espoused by the measure, “is unnecessary,” according to MPLA commissioner Henry S. Hofschneider.

Hofschneider said the MPLA has the authority to carry out what the task force would be required to do.

“The MPLA is doing it. We require a lot. We investigate. We ask a lot of questions in terms of assessing the investors and determining the value of pozzolan,” he said.

As for the bill’s proposed feasibility study on pozzolan mining on Pagan, he said a company had already been tasked to study the pozzolan’s quantity, quality, and marketability. He said that based on that research, Pagan’s pozzolan is “of good quality.”

He said there was no mention of it being “of high grade.”

In fact, when tested, Pagan’s pozzolan did not pass the specification as cement additive for certain infrastructure projects, he said. Pagan’s pozzolan, he said, seemed to fit regular cement manufacturing.

As to the quantity of the mineral, he said “nobody really knows how much [pozzolan] we have there.”

He cast doubts on Azmar International’s claim that there are 200 millions tons of pozzolan deposit on the island. “We’ve not seen that research showing there’s 200 million tons,” he said.

But granted that there is a huge deposit on Pagan, he said that MPLA would not allow it to be extracted all at once.

To do that, he said, is allowing the place to become a wasteland.

“If there’s a million tons of pozzolan, you can’t get all of it. Only a portion of it shall be allowed to be extracted,” said Hofschneider.

He reiterated that the MPLA is taking its time to study all proposals for Pagan mining.

There are at least three companies wanting to get mining permits on Pagan: Azmar, Texas-based CAER, and J.G. Sablan.

The Pagan mining bill, which was introduced by House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, calls for, among others, the formation of a task force that aims to determine the qualification requirements of persons and companies applying for permits to extract pozzolan, sets permitting procedures, sets a fee and royalty schedule, and ascertains potential risks to the environment for mitigation.

The bill is now pending at the upper chamber.