The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

“WILD calls” for a total ban on copper exports “make no sense”, a leading Bahamian scrap metal operator is arguing, adding that this was only about 1 per cent of his overall business.

Everette Rolle, owner and operator of Caribbean Recycling and Trading, said a complete ban on copper exports would be “no great loss” to his business, but questioned why similar sanctions were not being talked about for Cash for Gold operations.

Last week, the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s executive chairman, businessman Leslie Miller, and Supervalue owner and president, Rupert Roberts, renewed calls for a total ban on copper exports. Mr Miller charged that scrap metal operators were knowingly purchasing stolen material from thieves, while Mr Roberts, who has had several of his stores vandalized, said the culprits were wreaking havoc on businesses and getting “pennies” for the material. He alleged that it was the scrap yards that were making the real profit.

Mr Rolle, though, said: “It’s of value to the small man. People bring the copper to you to demand, say $2 or $2.25 per pound. For us, on the international market, we can only get about $2.75 for it. It’s not a high profit margin at this time.

“I hardly ever ship any copper. The copper I ship comes out of the derelict vehicles that I have come in. In terms of buying large amounts of copper, we only do that if we have a special project - for instance, the airport project - when they were doing the demolition down there.”

He added: “This wild call for us to shut down or banning copper exports makes no sense because there is a procedure in place. The Act is very clear on what to do. There is no need for these wild statements. It makes no sense.

“I am concerned about the damage that is happening to these businesses. People come and steal out of my yard, too, and I have to hire security to watch out, put up my cameras and call the police.”

The Pawnbrokers and Secondhand Dealers Act 2011, which was enacted by the Ingraham administration, set out operational guidelines and regulations for pawn brokers, ‘cash for gold’ operators and scrap metal dealers. Under the provisions of the new law, business owners or dealers engaged in the export of scrap metal will have the duty and responsibility to verify the identity of customers and to maintain records of all transactions.

“The Government had a problem, they closed us down unceremoniously for four months. They passed the Act, which covered everything they needed to do. We have a procedure in place for dealing with these things. We are following their procedure. That’s it in a nutshell,” said Mr Rolle.

He added that copper exports were about 1 per cent of his company’s overall business. “That’s like 1 per cent of what we do. For the guy bringing it in, if he could get $2 a pound, that is much more than the $0.10 cents $0.15 cents or $0.30 cents he is going to get for some other item,” Mr Rolle said.

“In terms of value to us and percentage of our business,it’s very small; tiny. We just go after the big projects. We hardly ever get the small guys coming in because we aren’t going to pay the price that they demand, and they know that if they bring in any stolen stuff we have the information on them to give the police.

“If they impose the ban it wouldn’t affect us. If they decide to ban it forever, no great loss to us. Maybe for some other people it would affect them. Our business is basically scrap steal and scrap iron. What I don’t get is we have Cash for Gold just going on and no one is making any fuss about it. People are getting their necks nearly taken off and I don’t hear any calls for those businesses to be banned.”