The protest and blockage of access to the Rusal-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGIO) mining site by residents of the Hururu, Upper Berbice River, Region 10, community was yesterday afternoon called off after a meeting between the two sides and top officials.
The community has also submitted proposals, which they deem fair, to the company.
“We had a meeting. Me the Region Ten Chairman, a representative from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and Natural Resources [Ministry]… We agreed that we would clear the river so boats could pass and the road, then we would go back with our proposals and thrash it out and see how we come to agreement,” Toshao of Hururu reservation Winsbert Benjamin told Stabroek News last evening.
He was at the time travelling back to the Rusal office, by boat, to meet the very officials he and residents had spoken with during the day.
The village Toshao said the document they are submitting proposes that $6 million be paid monthly to the community as rental of the road to Kururbuka-22 where the company’s worksite is. It also proposes that villagers must be able to access the road for their own logging purposes and that Rusal constructs two alternative roads for their use so that they would not have to use the site access road. Further, that five wells be constructed, one for each section of Hururu and that students of the village, who perform exceptionally at national examinations, be rewarded. Several efforts to contact Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud, Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon and executives of Rusal proved futile. Persaud’s phone went to voicemail. Solomon’s was out of range and Rusal executives would not respond to phone calls.
An employee of the company told this newspaper that yesterday Rusal dispatched letters to some of employees informing them that they should not turn up for work beginning today as the protest was gravely affecting the company. He said the company also said it was unsure when work would proceed.
“We know they just bluffing so government and so would feel sorry for them and must be send in police to move us. but we not falling for that,” the employee, who is also a resident, said.
He added that they held their ground and yesterday the company requested a meeting with them.
“They come to this country and milk it and so stingy to give back. It’s not like Rusal can’t afford to do the things we ask… When you check that to what their profits are, is pocket change.
We will not be bullied or intimidated because they said they would leave. We know and they know that they don’t want to leave. This is a heaven sent deal right here,” a resident said.
Fed up with how negotiations were going over rental fees and a proposal to block them from accessing a logging area slated to be a mining site, about 100 persons from the 600-plus Amerindian reservation took to protesting on Sunday.
They blocked the access road to the Kwakwani site with logs and a tractor and also the waterfront to prevent boats from landing.
A resident had explained that the community is a reservation and over the years Rusal has been paying the village about $1.2 million per month for use of a road to get to its mining site but almost all the money goes back into paying for the electricity the company provides. At the same time, the residents said, other communities, such as Ituni and Kwakwani, pay a minimal sum.
However, the issue that has raised the ire of the residents relates to a deal that was inked several years ago which gives Rusal the right to mine in an area known as 7 Miles.
The company has since demarcated the area and has signalled that it will stop residents from accessing the area.
This has not met with the approval of the residents since the area is ready for logging and the community is heavily dependent on logging for its livelihood.
The company also wants to lease around 320 acres of land from the village and is proposing to pay $3.7 million per month for use of the road to transport bauxite to the waterfront.
This proposal was rejected by the residents, who are demanding $12 million a month for use of the land as they say Rusal is making millions of dollars and would be cutting its monthly expenses by a large margin due to the use of the land.
However, Benjamin said that the $3.7 million that is being proposed for the monthly rental of the land was worked out by the council and the company with the Amerindian Affairs Ministry.
He stated that at a meeting, Minister Pauline Sukhai indicated that in keeping with international norms, the land should be rented by acreage.
Further, when this was calculated, the company would only pay $250,000 a month for the 320 acres. The council then highlighted that the company pays much more than that-$1.2 million-for use of a smaller piece of land and it was then worked out that $3.7 million would be an acceptable price.
