Two men were killed after a mining pit caved in at Mowasi Backdam, Konawaruk, Potaro, where the Ministry of Natural Resources says they were engaged in illegal mining on a concession.
Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman has since ordered an immediate investigation into the fatal cave in.
Up to press time last evening, the deceased were identified as Deon Sproston, called ‘Jersey Joe,’ 36, a miner of Mabaruma, North West District, and of Lot 133 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, and Shawn (only name provided), a resident of Aishalton Village, Rupununi.
Police yesterday explained that they have not been able to obtain the correct name or age of the Aishalton resident at the time of the report.
The accident occurred shortly after 8 pm on Monday. The land was once owned by the late Andre Britton, who died several years ago. A mining pit of 24 feet in height was found on the land, police said.
Subsequent to the collapse, a report was made to the police, who visited the scene yesterday morning in the company of Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) officers.
During investigations it was revealed that the two deceased along with other persons were working at the pit wall, when a portion fell on the deceased men. At the time, the rain was pouring, police said. A large portion of the pit wall broke off and fell on both deceased, covering them with large stones and gravel/mud, police explained.
Persons who were at the mining pit rushed to their rescue but were unsuccessful. The men’s lifeless bodies were pulled from the debris two hours after the collapse. Their bodies were rushed to the Mahdia District Hospital, where they were pronounced dead on arrival yesterday afternoon at around 3.30.
The police noted that several persons would normally raid the land for raw gold by using metal detectors and other equipment.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources, which expressed sincere condolences to the relatives of the two deceased miners, also noted that reports suggest that several persons illegally mine and raid the concession for raw gold.
“The Ministry continues to look into issues of illegal mining and land raiding and deters such acts,” it said. In January, a young miner met his demise in a similar fashion after the wall of the pit he was working in collapsed on him at 35 Miles Backdam, Potaro River. The GGMC subsequently launched an investigation into the death of Handel Payne, who drowned in the pit after the collapse.
In 2015, a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) set up by President David Granger in wake of continuing deaths in the mining sector due to unsafe practices, had determined that many operators practice “short cuts” in the digging of mining pits, which lead to greater instability, especially in the rainy season.
The inquiry also found that worker inexperience, lack of training, lack of technical inputs and corruption at some levels of the GGMC contribute to the dangers faced by workers in the sector.
It stressed that a strong “…pressure for gold production at the expense of health and safety exists, thus exposing workers to unacceptable risk and danger.”
Most operators, the report also noted, are aware that they are operating in a high hazard environment but do not ensure that the health and safety of their workers are properly managed. It also noted that direct frontline supervision did not adequately assess the health and safety risks that workers were facing.
This resulted in the principal causes of the accidents being neglect of safe mining practices and the absence of controls to make the mining field safe.
In many cases it was found that in steep or high wall pits there was poor ‘benching’ or no benching in some cases. Open-cast mines are dug on benches, which describe vertical levels of the hole very similar to the various levels used in terrace farming to prevent erosions on steep surfaces. “Many miners live in fear of falling walls, and running from falling walls has become a daily practice,” the report stressed.
