While top government officials have stated that Chinese company Bai Shan Lin has ceased mining laterite without permission and has since applied to extract the red soil for its 200-acre concession, residents of Moblissa said yesterday that the company continues to mine early in the mornings before checks are made.
“My information from the commissioner this morning is that the equipment has been removed… equipment is out of the area,” Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday.
“I have advised that the GGMC [Guyana Geology and Mines Commission] must ensure that the cease order…, it must be maintained and that there must be no mining of the material until the necessary permissions is sought,” he added.
The GGMC had stated that the company would be prosecuted because it had no permission to mine either sand or laterite. The officials said two cease-work orders had been issued, but were rescinded to allow the company to extract laterite to repair a farmers’ access road that had been badly damaged by the heavy-duty trucks being used to transport material from the pit to the concession. A third cease-work order issued two weeks ago remains in effect.
However when this newspaper visited the area yesterday afternoon Moblissa residents, while confirming that GGMC had visited the area, said that the company had been mining laterite from as early as 6 am yesterday to sometime after ten. “Them people more smart than them. They know they won’t come early so they come early and by 10-ish me ain’t see they come back,” a resident said.
A visit to the laterite pit showed fresh track marks from heavy duty vehicles.
The company, which has a licence for logging had been removing laterite—a soil type rich in iron and aluminium—from Moblissa for the construction of a two-mile road at Bamia. This, residents said, not only has negative environmental impacts, but was destroying their main access road as the large heavy-duty equipment traversing the thoroughfare left the road in disrepair.
A GGMC official told this newspaper that the agency lacked the necessary personnel to be on the lookout for illegal mining 24 hours a day. The source said this was the problem faced countrywide. However, if the firm was found guilty of mining illegally its equipment could be seized.
Minister Persaud also stated that the company has since applied to legitimise its laterite and sand mining operations, but stressed that raiding will not be tolerated. “The commissioner has advised me that an application by the company is in, and is receiving necessary attention. That is no excuse for anyone to engage in any form of mining unless you have the necessary permit,” Persaud said. “We just want compliance …it doesn’t matter where you are from, or which company you are, there must be full adherence.”
Bai Shan Lin trucks were observed removing laterite and sand from Moblissa and Bamia respectively, up to late Thursday afternoon in direct contravention of the cease-work order. Several trucks, none which bore local registration numbers, were transferring the minerals from locations at Moblissa and Bamia to the Bai Shan Lin worksite several miles off the highway on the Demerara River front.
The previous week, Bai Shan Lin representatives had met residents of Moblissa after they complained that their concerns over the illegal mining were not being addressed. Representatives at that meeting included Country Manager of Bai Shan Lin Hongbo Chu; a management employee Allan (only name given); President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association Clinton Williams and an official of the GGMC. Residents had asked that an environmental engineer be present and Charles Ceres volunteered his services.
