Major General (ret’d) Joe Singh, who has completed the inquiry into the death of Trenton Sebastian, the 19-year-old miner who died last month in a pit cave-in, says there is a great need for educating miners on the dangers they face in mining.
Singh, who led the Commission of Inquiry (CoI), made the observation when submitting the report to Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman on Wednesday.
Sebastian, of Kurukubaru, Region Eight, was killed on March 14th. The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) had said that Sebastian was “reportedly jetting the mining face when undercut material fell in his direction and he was unable to escape its path. He was overcome before he could be extracted and was pronounced dead at the Mahdia Hospital where he was examined.”
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, Singh said at the handing over of the report that as a result of the lack of jobs, miners are doing what it takes to make a living. “What we are finding is that in the absence of jobs, and job creation within the area, many people are running high risk,” he was quoted as saying.
Singh, who completed the report before its due date, said his findings match the findings and recommendations of the Grantley Waldron inquiry, which he said should be the guide for correct mining practices.
The Waldron inquiry was constituted by President David Granger last year after 10 miners died in a collapsed mining pit. While most of its recommendations were directed towards strengthening the regulatory ability of the GGMC, owners/operators were also urged to make several changes to the way they function after it was determined that many operators practice ‘shortcuts’ in the digging of mining pits, which lead to greater instability, especially in the rainy season.
Singh, however, highlighted that many miners are illiterate and giving them documents would prove insufficient. “I have asked in this report that diagrammatic, simple visual aids be created, be available at mines offices, that mining officers when doing their visit, they take this around and wherever videos can be used to good effect, that it be done,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trotman was reported as saying that the government is taking mining accidents very seriously and no death of a miner will go without being investigated.
“We don’t want any miner’s death to go without a report, an inquiry which led to a report and more importantly, this report standing alongside the Waldron report will hopefully lead, in the shortest possible time, to improved mining practices,” Trotman was quoted as saying by GINA.
He noted that despite regulatory compliance visits by the GGMC officers in mining districts, miners continue to engage in unsafe methods of mining.
