MINING MESS FURTHER EXPOSEDGeneral Manager of Axiom Mining Limited Dr Phil Tagini has maintained that the country’s mining industry is in a total mess due to ill decisions by key figures in the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MMERE) and this has denied the country and its resource owners from maximally benefitting from its abundant natural resources.Dr Tagini was responding to denials by Bintan in the two dailies (Solomon Star and Island Sun) today after he singled out Bintan’s non-compliance to the Solomon Islands Mining Act and Environmental Act and MMERE’s turning a blind eye on the company for recklessly operating in the country. “I have been in this country for 40 years and I don’t need someone who arrived yesterday to tell me about what I’ve been seeing” Dr Tagini said. “This country is open for everyone, but not to those who openly flout our laws. There is great disorder in the mining industry due to non-compliance to the mining and environmental laws by companies like Bintan Mining Company and MMERE’s paralysis in disciplining such companies for their reckless behaviour.“Moreover, MMERE’s continuous mishandling of the export permit application of a mining company which has fully complied with the prerequisites and the laws of Solomon Islands raises a lot of questions,” he added.He said it is totally irresponsible for Bintan to continue to reject having been involved in two environmental disasters at Rennell and also to continue denying that it has paid all its royalties as required by law amounting to what our Former Prime Minister termed ‘next to nothing in tax.. So how can Bintan deny having paid next to no taxes to the government when it was the former Prime Minister explicitly revealed it all to us at a Press Conference in April this year in response to the oil spill?,” Dr Tagini said.“In response to the oil spill in February this year, the Former Prime Minister Rick Hou said: Why keep them (Bintan) in the country to ransack the environment in Rennell while we are not earning much from their operation. He further stated that: ….the country is not benefiting from this operation at all.“Former Prime Minister Hou also stated that of the 64 shipments of bauxite ore, Bintan only paid the royalties for 32 of them – so where has the money for the other 32 shipments gone? How can this be explained to those dying in our hospitals due to medicine shortage and lack of proper medical equipment? How do we let this occur when we send our children to poorly maintained schools? “In summary, our former Prime Minister said Bintan is “an immoral company”. So if it is immoral who in government is supporting immorality? On Axiom’s suspension of its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange, Dr Tagini said it took the decision because it is baffled in trying to explain the mining madness in Solomon Islands Government to its shareholders.“Indeed Axiom’s shareholders are frustrated by the ill decisions, including unfair treatment of investors in Solomon Islands mining industry by the very people who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring compliance by all investors and support vibrancy of the industry! The mining madness is mindboggling and the greatest losers in this situation are resource owners and the citizens of Solomon Islands.”As to the claim by Bintan that Axiom has not paid its due’s to Isabel Provincial Government, Dr Tagini said the claim is completely false and basically a desperate attempt by the controversial mining company to divert attention from its unscrupulous dealings in the mining industry.Ends///SOURCE: AXIOM MEDIACaption: Dr Tagini.
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