Azmar’s pozzolan mining bid in peril

The House of Representatives would urge the Marianas Public Lands Authority to suspend the conditional approval for Azmar International Inc.’s pozzolan mining venture on Pagan, directing its legal counsel to look into reports that the company had intended to claim ownership of historical artifacts that might be found on the island.

House Rep. Joseph DeLeon Guerrero raised this concern during yesterday’s session, saying that the MPLA should even totally deny Azmar’s pozzolan mining bid if the reports are found to be true.

“It’s really disturbing to me,” Guerrero said. “They [Azmar] are planning to do something illegal.”

“If that is the situation, they should be denied the permit,” Guerrero added.

While the House is looking into the veracity of Azmar’s purported interest to discreetly claim ownership of historical artifacts, Guerrero said the MPLA should at least suspend the conditional approval it had given to the Arizona-based company.

Reports said Azmar’s draft employment agreement with prospective employees would strictly bind the workers to refrain from divulging to anyone any information concerning historical artifacts that might be found on Pagan. It claimed sole ownership of such artifacts that might eventually be discovered or unearthed from the mining site.

“They’re [Azmar representatives] basically telling their employees not to follow CNMI laws,” Guerrero said. “Azmar has no respect and no regard for CNMI law.”

He said that CNMI Constitution and statute bestow ownership of discovered historical artifacts to the people, whether they are found on public or private land.

Guerrero, a former director of the Historic Preservation Office, said Pagan has many prehistoric and historic resources. The proximity of Pagan from the Commonwealth’s major islands makes it difficult, however, to enforce the law on that island, he said.

Fitial said the House would write a letter to the MPLA, which would ask the agency to suspend the conditional approval it had given to Azmar.

Sometime last month, the MPLA board unanimously decided to grant Azmar a conditional approval, giving the company 60 days to prove its financial capability.

Some of the requirements that MPLA ordered Azmar to submit are:

* its most recent articles of incorporation;

* the names of its incorporators, officers and shareholders, and their respective number of shares;

* an audited financial statement;

* personal financial statements of the shareholders;

* initial capital for Pagan mining;

* names of investors;

* names of prospective buyers;

* a letter of credit from a bank covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

If Azmar meets the MPLA requirements, it may receive a two-year permit to mine pozzolan on Pagan.