SMM denies report on mining licence for Bumi Suria
PETALING JAYA : Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd (SMM) has denied a news report claiming that it awarded an exploration licence to a company owned by businessman Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.
In a statement to FMT, SMM CEO Natasha Sim said the state government agency was not a licence-awarding body.
'Nor do we have jurisdiction to award or issue licences,' she said.
Earlier today, MalaysiaNow reported that SMM had awarded Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd an exploration licence for coal mining.
According to the portal, Bumi Suria is jointly owned by Farhash and Aminuddin Mustapha.
The report said it had been granted exclusive rights to explore and search for minerals on 70,000 hectares in the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara forest reserves near the Kalimantan border.
However, Sim said that Bumi Suria had never been issued or awarded any prospecting licence by the state government.
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