…had applied for said claim, granted PL since 2014
BK Quarries Inc. said it will be challenging the decision of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to grant four quarry licences to Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed, contending that it has a prospecting licence for the said claim.
In a press release BK Quarries said the Notices of Intention to Grant the four applications which were published by the GGMC in the Official Gazette in favour of Hadi’s World Inc. describes an area which overlaps the 2018 application made by BK Quarries Inc. “This 2018 application being for the same area which was granted to BK Quarries Inc. as Prospecting License (PL-B70) since July 21, 2014. The PL B-70 was granted for 9,364 acres,” BK said in its release.
Mohamed was quoted in the Stabroek News on Tuesday saying that he was optimistic that his proposed quarry business will be granted all the necessary permits and promised to commence operations by January of next year if he gets the approval. “There is this huge demand currently and it will continue for a long time because we haven’t been producing to meet that [demand]. It is why I hope that by January or February of next year…that we will be operational,” Mohamed told Stabroek News.
Meanwhile, according to the press release BK Quarries Inc said it applied for a Quarry License on August 16, 2018 for the area subject to Prospecting License B-70. This Quarry License application was designated B-1000/000/18. “Two years later, after letters dated May 21, 2019 and July 17, 2019, the Commissioner of GGMC wrote to BK Quarries Inc. advising that the application for B-1000-000-18 was “being considered seriously at the level of the Board of Directors”.
According to BK Quarries on January 9, 2020 it agreed to meet with the GGMC and the Technical Sub Committee. The meeting took place on January 14, 2020 to discuss the application B-1000/000/18.
The company said there were several commitments arising from the meeting, one such commitment from BK Quarries Inc. being that the company identifies 4,460 acres out of the total area (9,364acres) which was originally applied for. BK Quarries promptly submitted a map to this effect. “There was another meeting on June 17, 2020 to follow up on the application B-1000/000/18. The following day the company again submitted a map with the reduced acreage as discussed on 14 January 2020. More letters were to follow. On July 2, 2020 GGMC requested from BK Quarries Inc. a detailed cartographic description of the reduced areas of interest. It said that it needed this information to continue processing the application,” BK Quarries detailed.
The company said the request by GGMC was satisfied on August 6, 2020, but nothing happened and it sent another letter to GGMC on December 9, 2020.
On January 11 this year, BK Quarries said GGMC sent a letter to it contending that the application for the 9,364 acres exceeded the 4,500 acres approved by the GGMC for the favourable processing of application B-1000-000-18.
“This was complied with by BK Quarries Inc. which submitted yet again a map and cartographic details for the adjusted acreage. The correspondence was sent on January 12, 2021. Eight days later BK Quarries Inc. received a letter from the GGMC stating that ‘all quarry licences extant and otherwise are to be reviewed by the Commission’s Board of Directors’. GGMC also asked that patience be exercised by the quarrying company and that “should there be any additional requests pertaining to your application, you will be duly notified”.
“All this changed with the publication of the Official Gazette dated February 5, 2021 which stated that GGMC had an intent to grant the four quarry licences to Hadi’s World Inc. of 29 Lombard Street, Georgetown. Upon checking the areas gazetted, it was revealed that some of the areas being granted to Hadi’s World Inc. overlay areas already applied for by BK Quarries Inc. under licence B-1000/000/18.
The four applications submitted to the GGMC by Hadi’s World Inc. were made only in December 2020. The efforts of BK Quarries Inc. began in 2014 with the granting of the PL B-70 and the subsequent application to have B-70 converted to a Quarry License in August 2018,” the press release stated.
“It should not escape notice that the last correspondence from GGMC to BK Quarries Inc. was dated January 20, 2021 and indicated that any further requirements of the GGMC would be communicated to the applicant.
At the most recent meeting of the GGMC’s Board of Directors to deliberate on the four applications made by Hadi’s World Inc., the issue of the Gazette Publications dated February 5, 2021 was raised as the applications were yet to be approved by the Board. The notice of intention to grant as published in the official gazette was made without the applications being approved by the Board,” BK Quarries contends.
According to the company the four quarrying licences applications made by Hadi’s World Inc. were designated H-1000/03/2020; H-1000-000-2020; H-1000-001-2020 and H1000-02-2020. They cover a combined and contiguous area of 16,502 acres.
BK Quarries Inc. said it application B-1000-000-18 was for 9,364 acres, an area that GGMC deemed to be too large for development, hence its request for the company to reduce the acreage applied for by 50%.
“The Board has concluded that the publishing of the notices in the gazette while the application was yet to be approved by the board was improper and possibly illegal. BK Quarries Inc. has since gone to its lawyers to voice its objection to the granting of these four licences to Hadi’s World Inc. on locations already applied for by the company.
The company had legitimate expectations that its application of 2018 would have been favourably considered and has cooperated with the GGMC in every way to satisfy the requirements of the commission. It is therefore asking GGMC to withdraw the Notice of Intention to grant the licences to Hadi’s World Inc. and complete the processing and issuance of its 2018 application,” the press release added.
