Outspoken Bartician miner, Frederick McWilfred was last evening elected head of the Bartica Community and Mining Development Association (BCMDA) following the official launch of the organisation which aims to protect the industry but also to diversify.
The most important thing is to protect small gold miners, McWilfred told Stabroek News following his election. McWilfred, a former head of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) gained the majority of votes to become the new non-governmental organisation’s first leader. Simona Broomes is the 1st Vice-President, Shawn Hopkinson is the 2nd Vice-President, the Secretary is Aroof Khan while the Treasurer is Raymond Khan.
About 100 miners and residents were present as the organisation was formally brought into existence with miners in the Region Seven community endorsing the rules yesterday. The BCMDA evolved out of the Committee of Concerned Barticians, which a year ago, rallied hundreds of miners and their supporters and shut down the community in a massive protest against proposed new regulations. Subsequently, last June, McWilfred was elected head of the GGDMA but resigned after five months, citing differences with the executives of the body over the treatment of small and medium scale miners, among other issues. He had said that he decided to tender his resignation since, according to him, working with the current members of the Management Committee of the GGMDA had become difficult.
In recent times with increased focus on the environment, the industry has come under the microscope and the new association is planning to meet with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Minister of Mines-Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, and is also seeking an audience with President Bharrat Jagdeo. They are waiting “with great expectations” the pronouncement of the President on the report of the Special Land Use Committee, McWilfred told Stabroek News.
Further, he said, there is a lot of scope for the BCMDA to work with the GGDMA. “There is lots of common ground we can work on”, McWilfred said pointing out however, that small miners’ issues were not given great prominence by the GGDMA. But where their interests coincide, they have no problems working together, he said. He noted that he remained a member of the GGDMA.
Prior to the election yesterday, McWilfred told Stabroek News that membership of the organisation is not confined to miners and while it is mainly for Barticians, there are provisions for associate membership.
The aim of the BCMDA is to first protect the industry and then diversify, McWilfred said noting that gold is a non-renewable resource. Once they have organized themselves, they will hold themselves up as a model for other mining communities, McWilfred said. “We will offer ourselves as a model and extend a helping hand if they want to organize themselves in a similar way”, he said. “No one can represent people better than themselves”, McWilfred added pointing out that some communities faced issues specific to those communities.
According to the mission statement, the BCMDA is “dedicated to promoting and protecting the small and medium scale gold and diamond mining industry in Guyana so that the economic, social and cultural well-being of Bartica and similar hinterland communities which depend on this form of economic activity is assured and preserved. It is also committed to the diversification of the economic base of the community so that long term prosperity and development is assured. It envisages its activities to be informed and guided by the principles of honesty, decency and justice and sets out to develop Bartica and its environs as a model of development for Hinterland Communities in Guyana. It is resolved to establishing Bartica as a community dedicated to a clean environment and the sustainable use of our rainforest, waterways and other natural resources”.
Aspects
According to its constitution, the draft of which was seen by this newspaper, the BCMDA shall be a non-governmental organisation with a mandate to pursue developmental work in all its aspects within the Community of Bartica and its environs. The organization will have as its main objective the maintenance and development of the Small and Medium Scale Gold and Diamond Mining Industry as the economic mainstay of the Community. It will also seek to create linkages with other aspects of economic life in the Community. In addition, it will help to diversify the economic base of the Community, being fully conscious that mineral resources are non-renewable and therefore, that diversification is crucial to its long-term economic well-being.
Its objectives, as listed are to promote, advocate and lobby for the protection and development of the small and medium scale gold and diamond mining industry in Guyana and the hinterland communities that depend on it for their economic survival; to provide technical and vocational training for youths in the Community to prepare them for careers in the gold mining industry and its support services; to assist in the development the entrepreneurial skills of owners and operators in the small and medium scale gold and diamond mining industry and; to develop and promote the technical and technological aspects of sustainable small and medium scale gold and diamond mining in Guyana.
Other objectives are to stimulate and facilitate relevant research and documentation for the advancement of the Small and Medium Scale Gold and Diamond Mining Industry; to encourage and support the activities of organizations with similar objectives to its own; to cooperate with Governmental, Inter-Governmental, National, International and Non-Governmental Organizations and Private Businesses concerned with sustaining Small and Medium Scale Gold and Diamond Mining in Guyana; to mobilize resources to enhance the development of sustainable and environmentally safe Gold and Diamond Mining in Guyana; to mobilize resources and undertake initiatives to assist in the economic diversification of the Community to ensure its long term viability; to assist in the creation of strong and viable local government in the Community and to undertake such additional activities as may be determined from time to time by the Organization to further its stated aims and objectives.
