Minister in the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment Simona Broomes says the country’s gold-mining industry cannot afford to relax its insistence on higher all-round standards.
At the top of the pile she tags safety measures. “Not all of the mining operations police themselves properly as far as the safety of the people who work for them is concerned,” she says.
“It is not a matter that the Government of Guyana can afford to take lightly. The situation is not one in which we can stand over every mining operation and enforce good safety practices. We need to find ways of getting to a point where every miner, every owner, every manager places safety at the top of his or her operating priorities. This requires training and sensitization and it requires monitoring. We are not where we ought to be in any of these areas but we have to press forward,” Broomes told Stabroek Business in an extended interview on Tuesday.
Since her move to the Ministry of Natural Resources in January this year, Broomes has been the Government of Guyana’s key point person on safety practices in the mining sector. While she says her own experience as a miner has helped her to develop a greater sensitivity to “issues of safety in the mining sector” she is under no illusions, she says, that she can do it alone. “I can observe some of the dangerous practices and I can make recommendations. Whatever I do, however, has to be supported by compliance from the miners and by enforcement at the level of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).”
Broomes who told Stabroek Business that it was important to be “realistic” about safety in the mining sector believes that the issue is “more complicated than some people might think.” She explains that the sector comprises “a cross section of people not all of whom understand the sector very well. They come to the industry on a hustle, so to speak, and in that sort of environment they are often not mindful of some of the risks that go with mining. What I mean is that many of them are not emotionally prepared for the responsibilities that go along with mining. What is on their minds is the gold.”
Broomes says she believes the frequency of mining accidents has placed the onus on both the miners and the GGMC to “step up.” She believes there is a need to find a way “to close the physical gap between the miners and the people who must enforce the safety rules. Distance is part of the problem. It is easy to believe that you can become a law onto yourself when you are in the backdam. We have to change that. One way to do so is to have more safety seminars, not only that but also to try to ensure that the people who run the mining operations attend those seminars.”
The minister says she is concerned too over the fact that some operators in the mining sector complain about not being familiar with safety practices. “That’s rubbish,” she quips. “If you are part of the gold mining sector you have a responsibility to familiarize yourself with the safety practices. Mining gold can be dangerous so that there is really no room there for people who don’t know the ropes, who do not understand safety rules. I would like to see a situation in which we can vouch for the knowledge of the people who run these mining operations, the people who give instructions that place themselves and others in danger. Do they have enough knowledge to protect people?
“We cannot have a situation in which ordinary men, ordinary workers simply get buried under tonnes of earth and it ends there. We have a moral responsibility to account for people’s lives. This something that I take very seriously. We must have transparent investigations and those responsible must be brought to account. Victims are ordinary family men. We must take those situations into account. We cannot lose our humanity in those situations.”
Broomes says that the returns to the country from the gold-mining industry warrant more meaningful investment in bringing a greater sense of order to the sector. “I believe we can do better. It really is a matter of balancing what you get out of gold mining against what you put back into it.
Some level of social responsibility must be mandatory. My understanding is that this is an area in which the government has a huge interest,” Broomes says.
“Of course some people find it awkward to discuss corruption. It can be an awkward subject in some situations. There is every likelihood that there is corruption in the sector. There are times when you come across things that very much cause you to cast your mind in that direction. There will always be temptation in an industry like gold. I believe that what is important is that we never reach a point where we think that corruption is a big monster that is out of control. We have to continue to fight it. I think it really is a matter of more effective policing of the system, ensuring that the people who administer and enforce the laws are better-positioned to do so and punishing corrupt practices on all sides.”
Broomes says she wants to see perceptions of the gold mining sector change. “Gold is gift to our country and to the people of our country. I think we need to ensure that there are structural changes that take place in the industry that allow for a broader cross-section of our people to benefit from the sector.
There is a lot of unemployment and poverty in the coastal regions of Guyana. I believe that there can be systems that make it possible for people’s lives, families’ lives to be changed through the gold industry.
Not everyone will be prepared for that type of work. But it’s an opportunity and one that should be offered to all of our Guyanese people who are willing to take it. The idea is that we should be able to use the sector, responsibly of course, to help provide a higher standard of living for our people.”
