Conditions of lawlessness and chaos are reportedly prevailing at a section of the former Omai Gold Mines Ltd (OMGL) mining site in the Essequibo river where ‘raiders’ have commandeered an area and are pursuing illegal gold mining activities with the knowledge of the authorities.
And this newspaper has learnt that more than a dozen private large scale mining enterprises currently operating at the site are dumping around fifteen times more than the allowable limit of toxic tailings from their operations into the Essequibo.
Stabroek Business also understands that the raiders, having occupied the mining site illegally are even now seeking to prevent other gold mining outfits from joining them in their illegal and environmentally hostile pursuits.
Executive Secretary of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Edward Shields who told Stabroek Business that the mining activity by the ‘raiders’ was creating serious environmental damage also said that while mining officers from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) are “monitoring” the activities of the miners occupying the area they appear powerless to do anything to curb their worst excesses.
Another mining source with whom Stabroek Business spoke said that “it is obvious that the GGMC officers are frustrated with what is happening but are powerless to stop it.”
Stabroek Business has also learnt that some of the rogue miners have further expanded their illegal activity to other Omai property on the opposite bank of the Essequibo River and that the GGMC had been forced to intervene some time ago to forestall attempts by these miners to build a dam in an effort to divert the river.
Stabroek Business has learnt that the illegal invasion occurred after the Quartz Hill area, which has been officially relinquished by Omai was offered to small gold mining operations by government through a lottery that divided the area into a number of lots. This newspaper was told that some of the miners who originally occupied claims in the Quartz Hill area based on the lottery had simply moved over to the adjacent Omai property since the gold yield in the Quartz Hill area was low.
However, Shields told Stabroek Business that the illegal occupation had been perpetrated mostly by several large mining operations that did not qualify to be part of the Quartz Hill lottery. Shields confirmed that the miners had moved to divert the flow of the Essequibo river and that they had set up a committee that had unlawfully arrogated to itself the authority to stop other miners from joining them on the Omai property.
Stabroek Business has learnt that Omai’s primary
concern is with the fear that as the legal occupiers of the property it would have to carry the can – so to speak – for any environmental damage resulting from the illegal mining activity. Shields told Stabroek Business that as far as he was aware no move had been made to transfer the environmental responsibility adding that he was uncertain as to what the situation was at this time.
Shields told Stabroek Business that some time ago Transport Minister Robeson Benn had visited the area in the capacity of acting Prime Minister and that the visit had led to several “raiders” found occupying the Omai property being fined $250,000 each and allowed to go back to work on the property.
According to Shields the GGDMA “cannot support a gold-mining activity that was unlawful, environmentally unfriendly and dangerous to human health. He confirmed that in view of the congested nature of the mining area and the absence of some basic infrastructure including toilet facilities the risk of disease in the area was high.
