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MPLA hopes to award mining contract this year
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Posted on Jul 02 2004
A member of the Marianas Public Lands Authority Board of Directors hopes to have a new pozzolan mining permit on Pagan awarded this year.
“We’re hoping it’s this year,” said MPLA board member Nick Nekai in an interview.
He said the board would finally award a contract “when we have seen that the applicant is real.”
He said the topmost consideration of MPLA is the financial resources of the company. “We don’t want a repeat of J.G. Sablan.”
J.G. Sablan, which was granted a mining permit several years ago, has been in default for nonpayment of its financial obligations to the agency. J.G. has also failed to show proof of production over the years. Yet J.G. still pushes for continued presence on Pagan.
Nekai said the MPLA’s goal “is to get the best deal” from investors through benefits and royalty fees that would ultimately benefit those of NMI descent.
There are at least three companies, including J.G. Sablan, wanting to get mining permits on Pagan. The two others are Azmar International and Texas-based Consolidated American Energy Resources.
This, even as MPLA indicates it has the final say on what kind of activities can be done on Pagan, it being a public land. As such, the formation of a task force to assess the mining project, as embodied in a House bill, is deemed useless.
MPLA commissioner Henry S. Hofschneider said the board believes that such a move is unnecessary.
