The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA) is pleased with the recent court ruling that compels the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to receive the fees and payments for medium-scale prospecting permits.
The issue was among those discussed at a regular meeting of the GGDMA, the GGMC and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environ-ment last Friday and it was communicated to the association that the GGMC will abide with the ruling, administrative coordinator of the GGDMA, Colin Sparman told Stabroek News. “We’re pleased with the ruling,” he said, while adding that he suspects that it would not be appealed by the GGMC. “I think that the instruction is that the clerk should accept the payments,” he further said, clarifying that the GGMC said that they would abide by the ruling.
Earlier this month, acting Chief Justice Ian Chang made absolute an order quashing the decision by the GGMC to refuse to accept the prescribed fees and rental payments for the permits, after finding that its refusal, on the basis of instructions from Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and applications by Amerindian communities for land titles, was not proper. He also made absolute orders compelling the GGMC to receive the fees and payments and prohibiting it from refusing to do so.
The ruling was based on an application by way of a motion made by the GGDMA, through attorney Roysdale Forde, in which it described the move as unreasonable, of no legal effect and in breach and a denial of the principles of natural justice as it affects all members of the association. In an affidavit in support of the motion to have the decision quashed, Patrick Harding, president of the GGDMA, said that Alfro Alphonso, who is the holder of a medium-scale prospecting permit, sought to pay the prescribed fees and/or rental for several permits in October last year and again in March this year, but the GGMC refused to accept them.
The affidavit said that on both occasions the GGMC “refused and failed” to provide any reason for its action. Alphonso, Harding said, wrote to the commissioner of GGMC about the issue and on April 3, Kampta Persaud, deputy commissioner of GGMC, on behalf of the commissioner, responded. “Please be advised that the commissioner had instructed the Land Management Department, based on the instructions from the Hon Prime Minister, then the Minister of Mines and Minerals, not to process any application or accept any payment for mineral properties falling within Amerindian titled areas or proposed titled areas. This instruction is still in effect,” Persaud wrote.
As a result, Harding noted that the reasons listed by Persaud affect the renewal of permits throughout the country and were “adversely affecting” the entire mining industry. Harding said that some 438 mining properties, covering about 433,855 acres in total, would have been affected by the GGMC’s decision.
Harding further said that as a result of the refusal by the GGMC, the holders of medium-scale prospecting permits were being deprived of their statutory right and benefit under the Mining Act.
Asked whether an increase in mining activity could be expected as a result of the ruling, Sparman said that there was “not that much curtailing” of permits and those affected were prospecting permits and not mining permits.
He added that the GGDMA is not against the titling of Amerindian lands but some communities are asking for large areas that are not commensurate with the size of their population.
