Dear Editor,
I am a gold miner from Bartica, who has a work force of over forty persons currently. I am writing to highlight a situation that is happening with a pontoon that sank in the channel of the Mazaruni River. Approximately three months ago a dragga, as this pontoon is called, owned by Crown Mining Supplies, ran aground just at the top of the Piremap Falls in the Mazaruni River. Initially it was out of the channel, but after efforts were made by Crown Mining Supplies to remove it from its position it shifted into the channel. That is when the problem started. The Crown Mining Company just left it there for weeks at a time and then they would make a half-hearted effort to salvage it, then once again retreat and not be seen for a while.
All the time workers and supply boats that work for, and service over fifty mining operations located above the falls, had to use whatever means they could to gain access to their mining camps, which includes manually fetching supplies over rocky and dangerous terrain and in some cases in waist-deep water just to survive. I am concerned about the non-action by this company which seems to be above the law as they continue daily totally disregarding the inconvenience that their sloppiness in handling this situation has caused to so many miners.
Let me also mention the operations of the two jetboat services that service the locations have been completely halted, putting almost sixty workers out of a job and the secondary school children that normally use the jetboat service to return to their school at Bartica are stuck.
I call on the relevant authorities, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Education, the Maritime Administration, even the Ministry of Health ‒ god forbid we get some sort of medical emergency ‒ to please do something. Once again I do hope this situation is looked at urgently by the relevant authorities.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
