Barticians plan to shut down the community on Monday in protest at a government proposal for six-months notice before mining can commence but Minister of Transport, Robeson Benn says that this is “misguided” and restated that the administration will do nothing to impair the industry.
Amidst growing concern over the six-month waiting period, this week residents of the Region Seven mining town gathered at a series of meetings to oppose the proposal they say will wipe out the small and medium scale gold-mining industry. “Ninety-five percent of people around here depend pon mining”, said one miner. “Look at what happen in Linden with bauxite, all the people without jobs. That’s what we trying to avoid in Bartica”.
But at a media briefing yesterday, Benn said that a solution is at hand. “I want to be able to assure the industry…that their fears…the issue of a veto, the issue of the mining being delayed, slowed down, stymied are not justified and these fears or anxieties are being addressed by the committee and once we have arrived at the details of the protocol we’ll be happy to go out to the mining areas and to discuss these issues extensively”, he told reporters.
The Minister- who chairs the Mineral and Forest Land Use Committee set up by President Bharrat Jagdeo to address these issues – said that the committee has been working assiduously and has had robust and open minded discussions in order to achieve a workable solution which will not impair but will enhance the transparency and opportunities for both sector stakeholders given the challenges of multiple use situations in the forest. “Such a solution is at hand and is being fleshed out –with supporting documents- to allow for adoption by His Excellency and cabinet after wide stakeholder review”, he said. He declined to give specific details stating that the committee work is ongoing and it has to be adapted and discussed in finality. A general meeting with all miners and the President is scheduled for February 11.
But this week, concerns grew in the mining town and at a public meeting on Wednesday night residents vented their anger at the proposal, which from all indications thus far, the government is pushing ahead with. Miners countrywide oppose the proposal, they say is a threat to their existence and have called on government to withdraw it. Industry operators say that in excess of 100,000 persons are directly and indirectly supported by the industry.
Awareness
“We have to take action to heighten the awareness of the government to our concerns as to the consequence that would accrue both to us as miners and Bartica, as a mining community, which is solely dependent on gold and diamond mining for its existence”, said Fred McWilfred of the Committee of Concerned Barticians. He told Stabroek News that while for now, focus is on the Monday mass protest; they have applied for permission for protests on Tuesday and Wednesday and will decide on further action as events move along.
The planned protest, during which the entire town including schools and transportation services are expected to ground to a halt, is the severest action to be taken thus far by the sector.
The six-month notice period and several other recent measures have been linked to the government’s pursuit of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and a recent forest protection agreement initialled with the Kingdom of Norway. Quizzed about this yesterday, Benn said that the rules reside in the laws, in the acts and the regulations of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Guyana Forestry Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency.
It has been noted that ever since the LCDS came into being the authorities have been taking steps to tighten regulations in the relevant industries and the mining industry has seen increased focus, with miners being told that they would have to radically transform their mindset and operations. Jagdeo has stated that the LCDS would not see a cessation of activities within the forest, and he assured that no rule would be made to shut down the industry. However, several miners have openly stated that with the proposals now being floated, the industry would be reduced to 10 to 15 small and medium scale miners.
“It has become apparent that some forces with agendas apposite to the assurance of sustainable mining and forestry sectors have been stirring up unjustified fears and anxieties with respect to the intent of the committee and the process”, Benn charged yesterday. He condemned the “negative efforts” and urged stakeholders in the sectors to await the imminent provision of the protocols that would “belie the mischievous representations that are now abroad in some quarters.”
He disclosed that the committee’s work would be finished by next week but then the protocols have to be referred to the President and Cabinet for their consideration. “There is a solution already at hand. We know what we are doing and I don’t think anything that we intend to do or have outlined to do will impair the mining interests nor the forestry interests for sustainable mining”, he stated. The intention is to have a comprehensive response to what has been a long outstanding matter of sustainable mining practices and to some extent to forest practices, he added.
According to Benn, those opposing the proposals are those who have been unable or unwilling to change with respect to new requirements. He stated that the question of sustainable mining has been out there for a long time. “Both our exploitative activities in the forest have to respond to the requirements for our sustainable mining and forestry or any other activity too eventually. The whole question of hunting itself too will have to respond to, hunting and fishing too will have to at some point just now, respond to the issues of sustainable utilization or extraction. This is something which redounds to the future of the country and not has to relate to the interest of any private persons or misguided person”, he said.
Benn said that the government is a mining one and will remain so and the future of mining is assured. “The government will not attempt or find itself impairing the national economy by affecting the interests, the lawful and sustainable interests of both the forestry and mining sectors”, he asserted.