Quarry operator gets court's permission to challenge minister

A QUARRY operator who had been pre-approved for a mining licence for a lucrative operation in Matura in 2015, has been granted permission by the High Court to challenge a decision by the Energy Minister to rescind the pre-approval.

Brendon West, principal of West and Associates, was granted leave by Justice Mira Dean-Armorer to have the court review the January 18, decision of the minister.

He is asking the court to declare the minister’s decision to rescind the decision to grant his company a five-year mining licence for 40 acres at Melajo Block E illegal, irrational, improper and of no effect.

West also wants the court to quash the decision and order the minister to reconsider his March 20, 2014, application for the quarry licence.

He is represented by attorneys Kelvin Ramkissoon and Leon Kalicharan.

According to West, he was “utterly shocked” when informed of the minister’s about-turn and has expended over $10 million to lease heavy equipment to quarry the acreage, and estimated his loss of profit for the five-year period to be $76 million. He said he also secured several contracts to supply aggregate.

In his lawsuit, West said he was told, on June 18, 2015, he had been pre-approved for the grant of a five-year quarry licence.

West said he was initially granted a licence to quarry a 20-acre parcel of land at Tattoo Trace, Valencia, but after conducting his own geological tests, it was found that there were no significant gravel deposits there.

He wrote to the minister in September 2012 and November 2013, asking for a replacement parcel of land.

On January 17, 2014, he was instructed to submit a new application and supporting documents.

He did so in March. In June 2015, he was told by the permanent secretary of the ministry that he had been pre-approved for a five-year licence for the 40 acres at Melajo Block E.

West submitted all the required documents and sought permission to access the land to conduct surveys and carry-out borehole tests.

He said he was told in June 2016, certain matters arose and his application could not be completed.

He again wrote the minister in May 2017 and did not hear anything until January when he was told of the decision to rescind the decision to grant him approval to quarry.

According to West, Block E is a potentially highly lucrative quarry with a yield of $93 million in aggregate.