Company concerned about its environmental image –Mc Lean
Mining areas previously occupied by Omai Gold Mines Ltd (OMGL) and which have been illegally invaded and despoiled by other mining operations since the closure of the company’s operations are to be excised from OMAI property, according to the company’s Human Resources Manager Major General Norman Mc Lean.
And Mc Lean told Stabroek Business that OMAI will be seeking assurances from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) that the company would be relieved of any past, present or future environmental obligations in respect of the excised areas.
The procedures attending the excision of part of the OMAI concession will involve amendment to the company’s original mining licence and Mc Lean told Stabroek Business that he expects the process to be concluded shortly.
The move by OMAI to protect itself against any responsibility for environmental damage to the area comes in the wake of recent disclosures of major incursions into areas of the OMAI concession west of the Omai river, resulting in what Mc Lean confirmed was considerable environmental damage including the diversion of the Omai river.
The initial request that a portion of the OMAI concession be excised was made by government and OMAI formally indicated its agreement with the request in December last year.
While news of the incursions have only surfaced since earlier this year correspondence sent to the GGMC by OMAI indicates that the illegal mining activities began much earlier. Mc Lean said that the illegal incursions had occurred in some areas that had already been reclaimed by OMAI under its closure plan. “As a company IAMGOLD has a responsibility both to the government and the people of Guyana and to the international community to ensure that when we cease operations here we leave the area in a state that is as close as possible to the state in which we met it,” he said.
According to Mc Lean the company also wanted to do everything possible to ensure that the government’s declared intention to utilize the site after the closure has been completed is properly facilitated in the restoration plan. Government has already advertised for expressions of interest to examine the underground potential of the site.
OMAI has officially notified the GGMC that it is seeking to excise of “all of the area within the OMAI concession west of the OMAI river” the area which according to communication from the company to the GGMC has been subjected to “consistent and systematic illegal incursions.” The communication states that “all attempts made by officers of the GGMC and the police to extricate these miners have been unsuccessful.”
The invasion of part of the OMAI property coincided with the allocation by lottery of claims in the Kumaka area west and south of the OMAI concession to miners.
The invading miners have reportedly employed excavators and hydraulic equipment resulting in a great deal of destruction of the environment. “This is all taking place in areas previously untouched by OMAI and is making it impossible for the company to conduct a proper environmental closure for those areas,” according to OMAI correspondence to the GGMC.
In its December 2007 communication to the GGMC the company had pointed out that the illegal dredging activity and the resulting high volume discharge of suspended solids is having a major negative impact on the condition of the OMAI River and OMGL’s operations.”
OMAI is currently winding down the current phase of its operations in Guyana under a closure plan agreed between the company and the Government of Guyana last December and Mc Lean told Stabroek Business that the closure operation includes site reclamation and the removal of all structures except those which the government has indicated that it wishes to retain. “The area will be re-vegetated and reclaimed and as far as possible we will be seeking to return it to a state of nature. This is both in keeping with our agreement with the Government of Guyana and as part of our corporate responsibility,” he added.
Government has indicated its intention to retain elements of the existing site and the “after use plan” includes its retention of the Mabura and Ya Ya roads, the existing camp road and landings built by the company. Other equipment and facilities that will remain in place after the closure include a 180-tonne barge ferry, a 1000-metre long airstrip and receiving facility, buildings, a medical facility, a power plant and other infrastructure and equipment at the mine site.
