As the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) move to staunch continually mounting claims of corrupt practices in the gold-mining sector, GGMC staff members can expect to come under closer official scrutiny with the establishment of a Special Inspectorate that will investigate allegations made against them.
Asserting that “allegations of corruption and malpractices, if true, can only be undertaken with the consent of both the officers of the commission and the miners,” Natural Resources and the Environment Minister Robert Persaud told Stabroek Business that “the ministry is aware of the alleged claims… and has investigated the complaints that were brought to the attention of the ministry and the GGMC.”
This newspaper has also raised the issue of corrupt dealings between miners and state-employed officials in the mining sector and all, without exception, have said that such practices are commonplace. When we put the minister’s response to this newspaper’s question on corrupt practices to one miner earlier this week he responded that there were no “ifs and buts about corruption in the gold-mining sector. It is very much there and there is no reason to believe that the authorities are not aware of it.”
Despite his measured response on the issue of corruption in the sector, Persaud dropped a broad hint that an investigation of the allegations and a wide-ranging initiative designed to close the doors to corrupt practices may be imminent. He said the GGMC had “commenced a comprehensive review of the current management systems for the critical departments. This is expected to identify and correct areas of weaknesses, strengthen those areas and improve the accountability within the divisions.”
And while the minister urged miners “to adhere to the rules and regulations within the commission and the sector” one mining source told this newspaper that the situation had already gone too far to rely on appeals to the miners. “A riot act has to be read and it has to be from top to bottom,” the source said.
Persaud told Stabroek Business that in an effort to ensure greater transparency and accountability of transactions by licensed gold dealers and traders, the Gold Board had secured the support of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Revenue Authority in an effort to ensure “that those business entities which have been granted the relevant permits to trade gold by the GGMC and GGB, are compliant with all rules and conditions of the legal trade of gold.”
Meanwhile, Persaud outlined a number of outcomes of deliberations between government and miners including official approval for 19 suppliers of mining equipment and spares, waivers of duty on spares, tax waivers on the importation of equipment such as pumps; the granting of a fuel import licence in the name of GGDMA Trading Inc to allow for the cheaper importation of fuel; duty-free access to All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) for small and medium-scale mining operations and waivers of duty on excavators, bulldozers and other vehicles used in the mining industry; waivers of duty on double cab vehicles to miners based on their production levels and access by miners to 10 per cent of their gold sales in US dollars to assist in retooling, capital acquisition and diversification of investments.
Persaud said, meanwhile, that an August 11, 2014 auction and a lottery in the same month had yielded 939 properties and 903 blocks respectively. He said the lottery and auction were done “to ensure that mining properties are continually available to miners to sustain current operations and production levels.” Additionally, Persaud said that his ministry and the GGMC were working in tandem with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) to streamline the process for work permit applications while the Ministry and the GGMC “continue to undertake the rehabilitation of hinterland roads and infrastructure to ensure that mining lands are easily accessible.”
