Callaghan: No contract signed with Azmar yet

No multi-million contract was signed by the governor with Azmar International for pozzolan mining on Pagan, said governor press secretary Pete Callaghan.

“There’s just no contract signed,” he said, noting that a recent Associated Press article quoting Gov. Juan N. Babauta as having struck a multi-million deal with the company while attending a recent conference in Los Angeles was incorrect.

“I clarified it with people who were there and I’m told that there’s no such signing,” said Callaghan.

He said it was a case of the media “misquoting” an official.

He said it was true that the governor, together with Marianas Public Lands Authority officials, met with Azmar president Kenneth Moore while attending the Department of the Interior-sponsored annual investment conference in L.A. last month.

“What the governor asked is for the MPLA to expedite the decision making process on the matter,” Callaghan said.

Earlier, MPLA board chair Ana Demapan-Castro denied that a contract was signed with Azmar.

“During the meeting, we laid down [to Mr. Moore] what have been discussed by the board, including the conditions we have set for the issuance of a mining permit. They said they will do anything to comply with all the conditions,” she said.

She said the MPLA is still studying “how to best approach [Azmar’s] request for a two-year permit.”

During the L.A. meeting, she said that Azmar made a new proposition: to give them a permit and a conditional agreement.

She said Azmar had also promised not to lay foot on Pagan within 90 days, or until all the requirements are met.

The MPLA board, in a meeting last August, decided to grant Azmar conditional approval and gave the company 60 days to prove its financial capability.

The MPLA, among others, ordered Azmar to submit its most recent articles of incorporation; the names of its incorporators, officers and shareholders, and how much shares each of them holds; an audited financial statement; personal financial statements of the shareholders; initial capital for Pagan mining; names of investors; names of prospective buyers; and a letter of credit from a bank that is covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Some authorities believe that there are some 200 million metric tons of high-grade pozzolan deposit on Pagan.