Tbilisi: The UNM opposition party has claimed the mineral exploration license in Georgia to be a lie. However, the Georgian National Agency of Mineral Resources has rejected all such claims of the UNM Party over an auction announced for the license of mineral exploration in Southern Georgian municipalities of Bolnisi and Marneuli as an attempt to gain political benefits and a lie.
The party had claimed that digging up hundreds of hectares of land would trigger ecological disasters.
Responding to these claims, the National Agency has released a statement saying: “We would like to explain to the public that the auction announced by the National Agency of Mineral Resources involves a study of the reserves in specific territorial areas by the licensee, determination of the types and amount of minerals therein and presentation of a report to the state, with a five-year period defined for the work.
Moreover, any claims of impending ecological disaster before any study is even conducted is just an attempt to reap political gains.
The announcement for the auction was made on March 30th, with the base price set at ₾3 million. The validity of the license would be 30 years, which would include five years from issuing date for exploring the mineral resources and approval of reserves.
Additionally, an investment of $12 million equivalent in lari has to be made within five years of the license’s entry into force to carry out the exploration activities. This sum would include ₾3 million for exploration works within 16 months from the data license that comes into force.
Also, the RMG Group mentioned as an ‘interested party’, wasn’t among the auction applicants as claimed by the UNM Party.
30TH August is the closing date for this auction, and the participant details shall remain confidential till the deadline.
