Stabroek Business has learnt that new proposed amendments to existing mining regulations will, if implemented, result in dramatic increases in fines for environmentally-linked mining transgressions.
This newspaper has been informed that the proposed amendments which are currently under consideration by state agencies responsible for the administration of the mining sector and other stakeholders in the industry include a recommendation that fines for certain categories of offences in the mining sector be increased from the current $25,000 to $5m.
Executive Secretary of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Edward Shields told Stabroek Business earlier this week that he had been made aware of the proposed amendments to the mining regulations by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and that the Association would be seeking to express its views on the proposals before the amendments are effectively signed by the Prime Minister.
Shields told Stabroek Business that while the GGDMA was supportive of initiatives that seek to create a more responsible mining environment the Association was not persuaded that draconian increases in fines such as those contained in the new amendments to the mining regulations would necessarily lead to more responsible mining practices. He said that “effective and equitable enforcement of mining regulations would help reduce the level of offences in the sector adding that setting such high penalties for offences in the mining sector could have a number of unintended consequences that are unlikely to result in the outcomes that they seek.
Another mining sector source told Stabroek Business that the move by the authorities to increase fines for environmental transgressions in the mining sector was simply a move to take advantage of high gold prices. “Both the Prime Minister and the GGMC are aware that it makes no sense whatsoever in making the penalties for offences stronger unless you can have a stronger policing system. The source told Stabroek Business that one likely consequence of increases in fines for mining offences could be the creation of “corrupt relationships” between the transgressors and those who are charged with citing the transgressions. “The more effective solution to the problem may be to suspend their operating licenses,” the source said.
The source told Stabroek Business that while both the GGMC and the then acting Prime Minister Robeson Benn had treated the Salbora incident earlier this year in a manner to suggest that they were acting expeditiously in the matter,” any miner who knows that area would be aware that more than one ‘stop work’ order had been issued in the case of Salbora long before it was first brought to public attention. Asked why, in that case, action was not taken earlier to limit the damage at Salbora the source told Stabroek Business that stopping the dredge from operating any earlier would have depended on who the dredge owner was. Asked for clarification the source would only say that “the application of the regulations in the mining industry are not always done even-handedly.”
Meanwhile Shields told Stabroek Business that he could think of no immediate-term substitute for mercury in the local gold-mining sector despite claims of environmental damage and damage to human health resulting from its use. Shields told Stabroek Business that while Brazilian garimpeiros and some Guyanese miners had been guilty of using mercury in sluice boxes and pits he was satisfied that, as a whole, mercury was being used responsibly in the sector.
Stabroek Business has reported on concerns expressed in sections of the international environmental lobby about the extent of the impact of mercury use on the environment and on human health. However, Shields has questioned the validity of claims regarding the impact of the use of mercury on the environment and on humans in the local mining sector pointing to the fact that mercury is used in relatively small quantities and in a controlled environment. He explained that unlike the problem of turbidity in rivers and other water sources resulting from mining activity, mercury pollution to any comparable extent would long have resulted in the closure of the mining industry.
Meanwhile, Shields told Stabroek Business that the local mining industry was unlikely to be affected by the proposed European Union ban on mercury exports given the relatively small quantities of mercury being imported into Guyana.
