Company RMG Publishes a Statement
Company RMG publishes a statement.
"We would like to respond to the information spread by the "National Movement" today, which was related to the extraction of minerals in the territory of Bolnisi and Marneuli municipalities, and to explain to the public that the auction announced by the National Agency of Mineral Resources, first of all, involves the licensee's study of the reserves in specific territorial areas, the extraction of minerals determining the types and amounts and presenting a report to the state, for which a 5-year period is defined.
Therefore, before conducting these studies and preparing the report, the opinion expressed by any "expert" that it is planned to dig up hundreds of hectares of land and create an ecological disaster is, to say the least, a lame attempt to score political points and a lie.
The real situation is as follows: the National Mineral Resources Agency on the basis of the application submitted to the agency on March 30, 2022, by the order of July 27, 2022 N863/S, announced an auction for the issuance of a license for the exploration and extraction of minerals.
License areas are the territory of Bolnisi and Marneuli municipalities. The license will be valid for 30 years, including 5 years after the license is issued for the exploration of mineral resources and the approval of reserves.
The starting price of the auction is 3,000,000 (three million) GEL, and in case of obtaining a license, the license seeker will be obliged to fulfill additional license obligations, including ensuring the study of mineral resources within no more than 5 years after the entry into force of the license and the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) code. Submitting the mineral reserves report prepared accordingly to the relevant body for approval;
In addition, within 5 years from the entry into force of the license, in order to carry out prospecting works, in total, it must invest at least 12,000,000 (twelve million) US dollars equivalent to GEL, including, within 16 months from the entry into force of the license, for prospecting works, at least 3,000,000 GEL investment;
The announced auction will end on August 30 of this year, at 6:00 p.m. Thus, as of today, the auction is ongoing, it is necessary to take into account the fact that, according to paragraph 141 of article 3 of the regulation approved by the resolution N136 of the Government of Georgia dated August 11, 2005, "On the approval of the regulation on the manner and conditions of issuing a license for the extraction of useful minerals, information before the end of the electronic auction" About the participants in the auction is confidential.
We note here that the RMG group was not an interested party, it is not among the applicants, and the information spread about it is incorrect," the statement reads.