Persistent complaints from sections of the mining community regarding the security implications of illegal shops in mining areas across the gold-bearing regions of the country have led to a new initiative by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment to regularize the operation of commercial enterprises at mining sites.
Stabroek Business has been reliably informed that the ministry has communicated to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) its wish that the GRA move to license shops operating in the interior as a means of monitoring them.
The move to license the currently illegally-run establishments comes on the back of promises made earlier this year that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) would be moving to close down the illegal establishments. However, a Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) source told this newspaper that it was doubtful that the GPF would have the capacity to close down the shops given the fact that they exist “in their hundreds” and are scattered across the gold-bearing areas of the country. “These are highly itinerant operations that move from one place to another, depending on where mining operations are taking place. They provide mostly entertainment, including sex workers and alcohol,” the source said.
Stabroek Business had previously reported on complaints made by miners about the likelihood that the illegal operations might provide cover for bandits planning robberies in the mining areas. Some of the major mining operations have even moved to provide limited in-house entertainment facilities for their employees, though the GGDMA told this newspaper that some owners were wary about alcohol consumption in their camps.
This newspaper has learnt that the failure by the authorities to eradicate the illegal ‘shops’ has to do, primarily, with the fact that the services which they provide are in high demand among ordinary miners. “Some miners have been known to relocate themselves to mining camps where there is easier access to such facilities,” the GGDMA source said.
