PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A subsidiary of American mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. has bought a Canadian company’s joint-venture interests in Haiti, officials announced Monday.
In a statement, Vancouver-based Eurasian Minerals Inc. said it sold its interests covering six exploration sites in northern Haiti to the Newmont subsidiary for $4 million and a 0.5 percent royalty.
Newmont Mining Corp. suspended active exploration in Haiti in 2012. Company spokesman Omar Jabara said Monday that the Colorado-based company has “no plans to take the exploration sites off of care and maintenance.”
Other than recent prospecting, Haiti’s mineral extraction industry has been largely dormant since the 1970s.
Mining had been seen as a potential new resource of revenue and jobs after the country’s 2010 earthquake. But the Haitian government has been unable to enact a revised mining law to establish environmental regulations and royalty revenues.
Someone really must look into the way these leases were given, in the first place.
What percentage does the Haitian government/People get?
Should follow this concept:
The legislation was modeled on international best practice, ensuring the people would gain substantial benefit from their own oil and gas. Under legislation the state could acquire a 50 per cent stake, by right, in any viable oil and gas reserves discovered. Production royalties of between 8 per cent and 16 per cent with corporation tax of 50 per cent would accrue to the state.
Unfortunately the contract is nothing like that. Haiti will get very little. Others have stolen everything in advance.