The Deputy Minister responding to questions in the Senate said :
In Muzarabani, there is progress. First, I just want to explain that mining is on four processes. The first one is exploration, the second one is discovery and the third one is the actual mining or exploitation. The fourth one is processing and the fifth one is marketing. In Muzarabani, we have done the exploration and in the exploration, we have sunk some three boreholes and discovered hydrocarbons or oil and gas. So, we are at the stage of discovery. What happens at discovery when the investor starts the exploration, we just have a memorandum of understanding with him. When he makes the discovery, we actually now know the quantities of what mineral he will have discovered. So, we now know the estimated quantities for oil and gas in Muzarabani.
We now have to negotiate with him what we call a performance profit sharing agreement. So, we are now at that stage. The purpose of this (PPSA) performance profit sharing agreement, is to make sure that we are clear about the legal and physical framework of the mining. We can estimate the value addition that will be coming. We are now at that stage. We are negotiating on the PPSA. That is the stage where we are now and when we have finished that agreement, we will then move on to exploitation or to the actual mining. I thank you.
