The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) have implemented a new monitoring, billing and royalty payment system for sand pit operations.
The introduction of the system, for which consultations were undertaken earlier in the year, is intended to improve monitoring of the sector in light of its contribution to national revenue generation, the ministry said in a media release.
Under the old system, sand pit owners/operators declared production records to the GGMC, royalties were paid based on these declarations and quarterly surveys of sandpits were done to verify the declarations.
The new monitoring, billing and royalty system, which was approved by the GGMC Board of Directors, was implemented in September.
Under the new system, all sand pit operators/owners are required to purchase “Conveyance Books” from the GGMC. At the point of selling sand to truckers, they must complete a Conveyance Slip in triplicate, stating the tonnage of sand sold and the name of the pit extracted from; provide the original to the truck driver, keep the duplicate for personal record sand retain the triplicate in the Conveyance Book for submission to the GGMC.
According to the ministry, truckers must present the original Conveyance Slip when requested by a GGMC mines officer. GGMC officials routinely monitor and patrol the East Bank corridor, it added, while noting that all truckers transporting sand without the requisite Conveyance Slip would be stopped and not allowed to proceed. In light of this, it said it is in the trucker’s interest to ensure that they receive a slip for each load of sand being transported.
It also said that at the end of each month, the Conveyance Books must be submitted to the GGMC and all accrued royalties paid. The GGMC will then conduct a monthly physical survey of the sand pits to ensure that the tonnage extracted is the same as the tonnage declared via the Conveyance Slips. “Any variations would be billed to the sand pit operator and payments must be made by the 14th day of the next month, the release added.
Further, under the new system, each month a new Conveyance Book must be uplifted from the GGMC, even if the old book has unused slips to ensure that each sequence in a particular Book is unique to a particular month and not used thereafter.
Sand pit operators who do not honour their royalty obligations are issued with a cease Work Order (CWO) and are not allowed to uplift any new Conveyance Books for use in the following month until all outstanding royalties are paid, the release said.
According to the Ministry, stakeholder meetings were held with sand pit owners/operators and truckers to inform them of the new requirements and the reasons why they were being introduced.
It added that the GGMC has continued its ongoing systematic review of all mining sub-sectors to ensure that current policies and mechanisms are adequate and to establish critical interventions to make sure that the resources are efficiently utilised and revenues from these resources are available to advance the nation.
The gold and diamond mining sub-sector, it noted, has undergone and continues to undergo policy changes and increased monitoring of mining and mining related activities,
In this regard, the monitoring of sand mining operations is seen as critically important given the role it plays in development and revenue generation.
