Officials of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and heavily-armed police evicted miners from the former Omai Gold Mines concession over the holiday weekend, sparking accusations of damage to property.
The miners had been given three extensions by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds on the land, an area of the Omai concession called ‘Bone yard’, but the last expired on December 31,t 2011. Last Thursday, the miners, mainly from the mining town of Linden, protested outside the Brickdam offices of the GGMC for a stay of their eviction, saying that they invested millions of dollars in equipment to extract the gold and they cannot afford to abandon the area just yet.
They also claim that they were used as political tools for Region Ten votes by the ruling PPP/C, which allowed their operations to avoid upsetting Lindeners before the elections.
The GGMC, however, issued an ultimatum for them to pack up and leave and after that expired they were removed by force. Acting GGMC boss Karen Livan emphasized that the miners were working in small spaces, resulting in unsafe environmental practices and breaches.
Several of the miners, however, yesterday accused authorities of breaking up vital and expensive pieces of equipment during the eviction, which was undertaken by the GGMC wardens and the Guyana Police Force. One of the miners, who asked not to be named, said, “When you have guns to your head what you gon do? They went in [with] a whole heap a police and seh we must get off, we time up. We had to leave our equipment all there because most of us did not make arrangement for collecting our mining things.”
Another miner, who also asked not to be named for fear of victimization said, “these who come to move we, dem ain’t gat no manners. You should hear how they behave when they come in here. You want think they put de gold deh. ‘All y’all so and so need to move.’ They lick up we thing, throw dis suh, that suh and people thing get break up.”
He added that during the Christmas time most miners go home to their families so many were not there to see what happened to their equipment. “…Plenty people loss here man… they should have given us some time to move our stuff.
These things ain’t a pillow and two pot that you could throw it on yuh and move. Is big hoses, generators and dredges and suh,” he said.
The miners say that with eviction, they are now left asking how or if they will be able to sustain their families and pay off loans which they would have taken to commence their businesses.
