Administrative Coordinator of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), Colin Sparman says that he does not believe that use of explosives in mining in Guyana is a regular occurrence and the unearthing of such explosives in a remote interior location last week is an isolated case.
“As it is, I would treat it as an isolated incident,” he told Stabroek News on Saturday. Four Brazilians, including a suspect in the slaying of two policemen in October, were arrested two Saturdays ago by police who raided their mining camp at Karisparu, North Pakaraimas and found 176 explosives. Police said that they found the explosives, said to be Ibigel brand, after searching the camp.
Sparman said that explosives should not be used and pointed to the strict rules governing their use. He noted that generally, explosives are used in hard rock mining and there are safety and security issues that have to be taken into account.
The GGDMA official pointed out that in using explosives, there needs to be a certified blaster and police would normally keep the explosives. He said that at BK Quarries which uses explosives to blast stone, there is a magazine where the explosives are kept and police guard it and keep records of how much is used. “The police would accompany and witness the blast too,” he said. “It’s very, very secure.”
He also noted that use of explosives requires drilling and a person would have to have knowledge of detonators and how to position the explosive and so on so that the stone falls in a specific way. “It’s a technical thing, you have to have skilled people,” he said.
Sparman said that most likely the explosives would have come from across the border “if there is any use, it is illegal,” he said. The GGDMA official also pointed out that the North Pakaraimas is not known for mining.
Sources had told Stabroek News that the Brazilians may have been involved in large scale illegal mining and might have been using the explosives to assist them. According to sources while explosives are used to assist in mining depending on the scale of the operation, persons need authorization to use same and medium scale miners are not authorized to use this method of mining.
The source had pointed out that when large scale, open pit miner Omai Gold Mines Limited was in operation it used explosives because it would have had trained personnel to do this. “But you could get jail for using explosives without authorization and this is not given to anyone because it is a very dangerous form of mining and persons’ lives could be put at risk,” the source had said.
Following the discovery, a Brazilian miner, Patrick Da Silva, 28, was charged with the possession of the illegal explosives. Da Silva, said to be of Dead Boy Hill, North Pakaraimas, was released on $75,000 bail after he denied the charge read to him by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
It was alleged that on December 8, Da Silva had in his possession 176 Ibegel explosives, without having permission or a licence.
In an application for bail, his lawyer Glenn Hanoman had said that Da Silva is a supervisor of a mining camp in the Essequibo district, and has expertise in hard rock mining, which requires the use of explosives.
