Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud has responded to an article in Time Magazine online, defending Guyana’s stewardship of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and saying that smuggling of diamonds must be established and not be subject to speculation.
He said this in an emailed letter to the editor of Time Magazine in which he disputed the contentions in the article which was carried on August 20 saying that Venezuela and Guyana are the sources of tainted gems.
The article gives an account of an interaction between a Guyana-based diamond trader and the Time journalist during which the former describes how he came by the diamonds and the process he went through to get them to their market.
An excerpt reads: “In an office in Santa Elena, deep in the Venezuelan jungle bordering Brazil and Guyana, a diamond trader inspects a rough gem under his magnifying glass. Surrounded by precious minerals, stuffed tarantulas and a sprawling anaconda skin pinned to the wall, he takes calls from men who work in the rowdy clandestine mines nearby and bring him the precious stones. From there, a broker will traffic the diamonds into Guyana, where they’ll receive falsified certificates that they were legally mined and marketed. Many will end up in commercial hubs like New York, Tel Aviv and Antwerp.”
It continues: “And the entire journey will flout the Kimberley Process, a decade-old, U.N.-mandated international agreement to curtail rampant global diamond smuggling. Venezuela, a major diamond producer, is a KP member but voluntarily removed itself as an active participant in 2008 after being widely accused of ignoring the pact’s mission to regulate diamond production and commercialization. ‘There is no control at all,‘ says the Santa Elena trader, who asked not to be identified. The KP, as a result, is considering expelling Venezuela: the U.S., which chairs the KP for 2012, this summer delivered an ultimatum to Venezuelan authorities to demonstrate compliance or lose membership altogether…
“The rough stones from that mine will move to Santa Elena and then to Guyana through the 550-km-long (330-mile) jungle border region. ‘When you have a border like that,‘ says the Santa Elena trader, ‘you can cross into Guyana whenever you want.‘ In Guyana, he says, it’s easier to get KP certificates issued to export the diamonds.‘ It helps that Guyana, a former British colony and KP member, doesn’t appear to be a model of enforcement itself. ‘You’re a businessman,‘ says one buyer in the capital, Georgetown, who also asked not to be named. ‘If a guy walks into your office with a diamond, of course you’re not going to allow him to walk out.‘”
The article said that the Guyana’s Geology & Mines Commission declined Time’s request for an interview. However, it quotes Robert Persaud as saying, “We’ve always been conscious that there can be cross-border movement. [Guyana] has a “very rigid [diamond certification] system in place that is under “constant review.”
Persaud, said Time, “declined to provide a date for the last review or disclose any details about the system.”
In its response to the magazine, the ministry on August 23 said that Guyana became a part of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in 2003 and joined many other countries in this voluntary international initiative. It noted that constant vigilance and compliance are the main areas which undergird a system of traceability and transparency in the movement of rough diamonds from source to destination.
“Guyana strengthened its already extant export of precious stones’ procedures, and thus enhanced its compliance with the requirements of the KPCS. These regulations and procedures were further endorsed as KPCS compliant in a peer review conducted six years ago. Guyana has remained faithful to the established process and internal procedures employed,” it said.
It noted that in addition in 2010, Guyana’s KPCS system was recommended by the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) to other KPCS member countries “as one of the best and most useful for consideration and emulation.”
“Guyana’s KPCS system is subjected to constant review in-house by GGMC, and as recently as May, GGMC met with exporters to discuss concerns and make adjustments where any may be possible or prudent,” the Minister said in the letter.
“It is recognized that there will be concerns raised from time to time with respect to possible cross-border movement of minerals (which may include rough diamonds), in particular among Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela. It is also, however, important to bear in mind that smuggling must first be established and not be speculated on,” he said.
The Minister went on to say that the GGMC “jurisdictionally deals with the movement of minerals from operation [source] to point of export, and collaboratively with GRA /CTA, certifying rough diamonds for export without which certification such diamonds would not be accepted at the proposed destination.”
He said to date there has been no evidence which categorically shows that diamonds are being smuggled to Guyana.
“Pursuant to standard procedures, rough diamonds which do not accord with Guyana’s well-documented and researched mineralogy and characteristics and for which documentation is unsatisfactory, are not sanctioned and certified for export,” the Minister wrote; “This approach is consistent and exporters who have not been compliant have received appropriate sanctions, and some have since ceased to conduct business, with KPCS being informed through reporting requirements.”
He said that in due course and not too distant future, Guyana will be requesting its second peer review and will expect to be accommodated as the KPCS schedule allows. Meanwhile the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) supports the Ministry in its efforts to have a second peer review of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). “The GGDMA joins with the Ministry in reminding miners that all their gold and minerals should be sold only to the Guyana Gold Board or to legitimate and licensed dealers,” the GGDMA said in a press statement yesterday.
“The Association makes this call in light of recent publications about the legitimacy of Guyana’s diamonds and wishes to state that the diamonds produced in Guyana [are] done in accordance with the principles of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The GGDMA stands by this process and we are calling on all miners and buyers to respect the principles set out,” the statement said.
“Additionally the mining body is urging dealers, who may be tempted to contaminate Guyana’s minerals with foreign gems, to desist from such a practice, as it will only result in the detriment of the industry. We support the Ministry’s efforts to improve and develop the diamond industry and welcome all efforts to maintain and strengthen the K.P.C.S,” the GGDMA said.
