The High Court recently granted an injunction restraining a miner at the centre of a village complaint from mining or attempting to mine on any part of Isseneru’s titled land, the Ministry of the Presidency said yesterday.
The miner’s action last week to restart his operation in a sensitive area appears to be a flouting of this court order and he is also offering his side of the story.
Minister of Governance with responsibility for the natural resources sector Raphael Trotman had also issued an order for the miner to halt his operations. However, Stabroek News reported on Saturday that despite the ministerial order to halt the operation of the dredge which is in close proximity to Isseneru’s residential area, at Middle Mazaruni, Region Seven, the miner on Thursday reportedly restarted his mining operation, triggering concern that conflict could erupt between him and the villagers.
Yesterday, in a statement, the Ministry of the Presidency informed that there was also an injunction in place. It said that following Trotman’s order pending investigations and a fact finding mission, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) was notified that an injunction was granted in favour of Isseneru to restrain the miner from mining or attempting to mine on any part of Isseneru’s titled land.
According to the statement, the court action also unsuccessfully sought to restrain the GGMC from issuing any permission to the miner and other defendants named in the action to mine and or operate within the boundaries of Isseneru’s titled property. “This matter remains active and before the Court,” it added.
The Ministry said that nevertheless, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE), conducted the fact-finding mission last Wednesday and a multi-agency team was dispatched to Isseneru. The team comprised of representatives of the DNRE, the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency and the GGMC. “The residents benefitted from a detailed interaction with the team and various concerns on mining along with other issues were raised. Discussions were also held with the owners of the ceased operation and relevant data was collected,” the statement said.
It noted that Trotman had met with the Toshao and representatives of the village of Isseneru and the National Toshaos Council on the issue on November 14 and had immediately ordered the operation of the dredge to halt pending further investigation. “The Government has undertaken to address the issue of land management and the distribution of lands for varying sectors in a holistic manner,” it said.
Cannot understand
Meantime, the dredge owner Suresh Ramkissoon, in a letter to Stabroek News said that he cannot understand the reason for the situation. He said that he would have paid $6.5 million over a period to the village council of Isseneru for various purposes.
According to Ramkissoon, he started his operation at a point about 400 yards above where the dredge is presently located at the beginning of April this year. He said that he was granted permission by a village official.
“In his words what he says goes and he does not need to consult the council or anyone to grant permission, as his word was powerful enough. He personally would have witnessed the wash down the first three times and collected 12% of the gross amounting to a total of 28 grams of gold. For this I was not issued with any receipt even though I requested same,” Ramkissoon wrote.
He said that on another occasion, the village official asked for $60 000 to fix his outboard engine. “I borrowed the money from an Apaiqua business person to assist him as I wanted to stay friends with him and by extension the village. On another occasion he came on the dredge at about 10pm and asked for $20,000 to purchase alcohol for a friend’s birthday party. Again I assisted,” the dredge-owner wrote.
He added that he had donated, at the request of the previous village council, cash totaling $300,000 to assist in taking a group of 60 persons to Kamarang to play football. To the present council around August this year, another donation of $400, 000 to take the same group to the same event, he said.
According to Ramkissoon, he had also assisted many individual residents of Isseneru in numerous ways such as diesel and lube oil for their land dredges and gasoline for their outboard engines. “This would have cost me in excess of $1,500,000. This is not to mention facilitating transportation and repairing and welding and almost every problem that individuals and the village would have requested of me. Being a good Guyanese citizen I believe in the code of the “Bushman”, we all eat from the same plate. We have always maintained a friendly relationship with the Village and at no time ever refused to assist in whatever way we can. That is why I cannot understand the reason for this situation,” Ramkissoon wrote.
Tribute
He said that aside from the assistance, he always had to pay 12% of gross production as tribute. He said that he has in his possession receipts from various representatives of the village council totaling almost 700 Grams of Gold (22.5 Ounces) which would amount to about $4.5 million at today’s gold price.
He said that to the best of his knowledge, he would have paid to certain representatives another 300 grams (10 ounces) $2,000,000 for which receipts were never issued. “In sum, I would have paid 32.5 ounces of gold – $6,500,000 – to the village council of Isseneru,” Ramkissoon alleged.
Earlier this month, Isseneru resident Dwight Larson, in a letter to Stabroek News, raised concerns about the risks posed by the dredge.
Larson, who said he highlighted the situation in hopes that the various state agencies and government ministries responsible for mining, indigenous affairs and legal affairs will take action, noted that the GGMC granted permission to the miner to operate a cutter head river dredge in close proximity to Isseneru’s residential area.
“This is blatant disrespect by GGMC and its officers to grant permission to this operation, knowing that this type of mining can cause huge environmental damage, health problems and loss of life,” he wrote.
“This is a serious issue which needs an urgent response because it poses the risk of erosion and major damage to residential and government properties including the hydromet station, school and health facilities which are close to the area where this destructive mining operation is positioned.
This is also a violation of Isseneru’s rights under Section 48 (1) of the Amerindian Act and section 112 of the Mining Act since no consultations were held between the GGMC, the dredge owner and the Isseneru Village Council,” Larson added.
