East Asia Minerals claims its licenses on Miwah project still valid
Tuesday, December 13 2011 - 09:32 AM WIB
This allows the holders of the licenses in the Miwah project access rights to conduct limited activities on the Miwah project. Activities will be limited until additional permits are received.
Further, the company?s legal counsel has also confirmed that the cooperation agreements which establish the company's interest in the Miwah project are valid and that the counsel is not aware of any material defects in such agreements for its Miwah project. East Asia Minerals has outlined an exploration plan below to move forward on the Miwah project during 2012.
"Having clarified the path forward, the Company is directing all efforts towards the completion of all necessary permitting," Edward C. Rochette, CEO and Director, elaborated.
EAS owns an 85 percent indirect equity interest in the Miwah project. The Miwah project lies within three contiguous Izin Usaha Pertambangan (IUP), also referred to as mining business licenses, which the Company is party to through cooperation agreements with its partners. The IUPs were issued in November 2009 by the Regent of Pidie Regency of the Province of Aceh.
The IUP itself does not grant its holder the complete set of permits or licenses required to carry out mining activity. In order to conduct mining activity, the IUP holder is separately responsible for applying and receiving any other permits required, which may include, but are not limited to, forestry access permits and land owner consents.
Given the Miwah project is located within a designated forestry area by the Ministry of Forestry, the IUP holder is responsible for obtaining a forestry borrow-use permit from the ministry, allowing it to conduct activities in designated forestry areas that would involve disturbing the underlying forest.
Exploration forestry borrow-use permits granted by the forestry ministry are generally valid for a period of two years, after which a new application must be submitted.
As the IUP holders in the Miwah project currently do not have a forestry borrow-use permit, the activities conducted at Miwah project are limited to activities that do not disturb the underlying forest. Should the land area permit it, such activities could include grab or channel sampling or other activities that do not have an impact on the forest area.
Further, a forest moratorium affecting land in Aceh Province and other areas of Indonesia including part of the Miwah project area has been imposed by the regulatory authorities designating such areas as "primary forests".
The company has applied to the governor's office for guidance and instruction in respect of how the affected Miwah area can be re-designated as not forming part of the "primary forest" and how this designation affects the ability of the company to apply for the necessary borrow-use permits in respect of the Miwah project. (romel)