Prime Minister Sam Hinds yesterday reminded small and medium-scale miners of the importance of maintaining environmentally acceptable standards. He stressed that the land must be returned to usability at the end of the mining phase and cited the need for laws such as those passed in Jamaica, which make such a commitment mandatory.
Hinds was speaking at a meeting between the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) to address varying issues in the sector, especially related to small and medium scale operators.
“We are on the road towards certifying small and medium scale miners,” Hinds said, adding that large-scale operators are more in line with what is expected. According to the Prime Minister, during recent flyovers some areas stood out as being visibly degraded.
At a press conference some weeks ago, Hinds had said that the time for educating miners about the dangers of loose mining practices was gone and stern action would be taken against defaulters.
Hinds said that on a trip to mining fields of Jamaica earlier in the year he had observed that mined-out areas were – as mandated by legislation – reclaimed and developed for farming and recreational activities. “This is the next area we have to work on,” Hinds said.
He stressed that even in the face of difficulties, miners have to find ways of making economic use of the resources available to them so that their costs could be reduced.
He said miners should work towards maintaining what they have, and come together to develop roads in the mining areas.
According to the Prime Minister, the GGMC is stretched in its search for active mining units to make available to small and medium miners. He commended the GGMC for its efforts in this area and noted that the body was seeking to increase the number of field officers in its employ.
Emphasising the importance of miners as occupiers and sojourners of Guyana’s interior, he said they had an important role to play in terms of blazing a trail with a view to any inward movement of Guyana’s population centres, as climate change and sea level rise become a reality.
During the discussions’ phase of the meeting, miner Lennox Wade of Aranka said that security remained an issue that he would like the authorities to address soon. He said that years ago the level of security clearances and checks one had to go through to gain access to those communities was higher than what exists today.
He said that many shops, known as Kayamoos, are popping up in the communities and these are haven to people with mischievous intent.
He called for the establishment of a police station at Aranka to monitor the activities in the area, adding that since Guyana was not at war, the army should also occupy the police station and support the efforts of the police.
Immediately after Wade’s contribution to the meeting, Prime Minister Hinds said he would support the call for a police station to be put up and would pursue it.
He said he had raised the issue with Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, who had indicated that miners seemed to have become disinterested in the issue of enhancing security.
He said the administration would have a security networking meeting with the stakeholders in the forestry sector and after this, a plan encompassing both forestry and mining operators and communities will be drawn up seeking to raise the level of security. Hinds told the miners and dredge owners that they should develop ways of keeping an eye out for each other.
He also called for them to lift the standards by which they operate so that they could reduce the negative impact on the environment.
He said government would put systems in place to ensure proper use of mercury even though he acknowledged that he had seen a tremendous improvement in the way mercury is used in mining.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that some of the criticism of the sector was necessary and justified, and stressed that the actions of each miner affected the totality of the sector.
He said they should lift expectations of themselves, improving sanitation, hygiene and the general conditions for their workers.
Before he left the meeting, Hinds promised to look into concerns of some of the small and medium-scale miners and these include the length of time it took to process claims and related matters and the system of repossessing small-scale plots so that they could be given to larger operators.
Chairman of the GGMC Board Ron Webster urged that the stakeholders in the sector consider the benefits to be derived from agro-tourism and mining tourism, adding that the travellers interested in coming to see these sites are the ones with the money.
“We need to open up the interior but we cannot pollute it,” he stressed. “Our real concern is mercury… it goes right through the [food chain],” he said, adding that both commercial and tourism-connected sport fishing could be affected.
