A local gold miner and member of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) has told Stabroek Business that last Monday’s meeting between Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud and stakeholders in the natural resources sub-sectors is unlikely to quell suspicion among miners that government is bent on taking control of a sector that has traditionally been in private hands,
“What the setting up of a Natural Resources Ministry has done, in a sense, is to create even deeper suspicion among miners that official rules, regulations and controls are going to be put in place and that these are not going to work to the advantage of miners,” the miner who declined to be identified to avoid “trouble and controversy”, told Stabroek Business.
He said he attended the meeting and had spoken to other miners there. “They just want to continue to work in the sector. They need to be reassured that their interests will be protected,” he said.
While conceding the need for stronger official safeguards in the face of mining practices that impact negatively on the environment, the miner told Stabroek Business that there exists a suspicion among miners that the intention of the government is to use the new Natural Resources Ministry to impose regulatory controls “that have nothing to do with the environment. The problem here is trust. After the events of last year where the miners protested against the regulatory measures which the government is seeking to put in place there is really very little trust between the two sides. At the moment the miners are playing along in the hope that reasonable compromises may be arrived at.”
At last Monday’s meeting the minister alluded to government’s concern over the under-declaration of gold and to what he said were the substantial losses to the economy resulting from the practice. The GGDMA is on record as suggesting that loss of revenue through smuggling is significantly overestimated and that smuggling takes place at a much lower level than is officially suggested. The association is of the view that a large percentage of the gold not declared to the Guyana Gold Board is disposed of locally and used in the jewellery trade. Former GGDMA Executive Secretary Edward Shields told this newspaper some months ago that the practice of hoarding gold locally had arisen in the view of the high price of the precious metal and the resulting demand by jewellers that customers “bring your own gold” when ordering jewellery.
According to the miner with whom Stabroek Business spoke, while it is “very likely” that significant quantities of gold are smuggled out of Guyana, the authorities really had no way of determining the levels of smuggling. “The truth is that the minister really can’t put anything resembling an accurate figure on the amount of gold being smuggled. As far as I know the GGMC has been trying for years to come up with calculations regarding the difference between what they believe ought to have been produced and the amount declared. Even GGMC officials admit that their projections are probably wide of the mark,” he said.
According to the miner any attempt of the kind envisaged by the new Natural Resources Minister to “clean up” the gold-mining industry has to be preceded by the removal of “the present corrupt arrangements” under which the sub-sector is managed. He spoke about responsibility and morality in “complying with the law and as long as we go down that road it will not work since if you ask any miner he will tell you that there is really no morality in this business. It is about making money and I believe that as far as many, perhaps most miners are concerned, if you have to break the law to do what you are doing then that is what you do.”
According to the miner, the government has to put itself in a position to enforce the law rather than depend on every miner to uphold it. “Once we begin to talk about things like corruption and smuggling we cannot leave out the role that state officials play in the process. People have a price and the miners are aware of it. They know only too well that mines officers do not value their authority because they are there to uphold the law. The other point of course is that miners do not work in the presence of mines officers all the time. They may come to an area and meet conditions that amount to breaking the law but they are not aware of all of the activity that has been going on in their absence.”
At last Monday’s meeting Minister Persaud confirmed the appointment of Acting Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Karen Livan as Commissioner and also named two Deputy Commissioners. Commenting on the appointments, the miner said while he did not wish to disparage the GGMC he believed that “real power and authority” in the sector had shifted to the new Natural Resources Minister leaving the functionaries in the GGMC with very little power if any at all.”
Over the past three years gold declarations have exceeded 300,000 ounces each year. This year, the figure surpassed the highest amount ever produced annually by Omai Gold Mines Ltd. The miner said that the performance of the sector in recent years was evidence of the fact that if the industry received more support from government it could “go places,” adding that it is not inconceivable that that amount could be doubled as early as this year or the next.
Asked about last Monday’s consultations with Minister Persaud the miner said that while it was “a positive thing” that the minister had met the miners and listened to them, “the real issue is what happens now. Like I said there is a situation of suspicion among some miners that they are being forced out of mining gold and as long as that suspicion remains, in other words, as long as the government does not remove it the miners will remain uneasy.”
