The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) has dispatched a team to investigate the mining pit cave-in at Mowasi Backdam that claimed the lives of two men, Commissioner Newell Dennison said.
The two men, Deon Sproston from North West District and Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, and Shawn (only name provided), a resident of Aishalton Village, Rupununi were killed on Monday after a mining pit caved in at Mowasi Backdam, Konawaruk, Potaro. The Ministry of Natural Resources had said that they were engaged in illegal mining on a concession. The accident occurred shortly after 8pm that day.
The land was once owned by the late Andre Britton, who died several years ago. A mining pit, 24 feet in depth was found on the land, police said. 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 duo. At the time, it was pouring, police said. A large portion of the pit wall broke off and fell on both men, 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.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Dennison explained that while it is premature for him to make any pronouncements on the matter, the GGMC was able to have one of their officers accompany the police on the day of the incident. However, he noted that they have since organised a team that left yesterday and will be carrying out a comprehensive investigation.
“They will go and will check the environment. They will try to document what they observe, take statements and cordon off the area. We try to have a disposition on who owns the property, whether the person was operating within our regulatory framework, which more than likely might not have been the case, and particularly from the point of view (of) whether the activity was legitimate,” Dennison explained. He emphasised that the objective of the team is to ascertain the facts of the situation and what would have contributed to the accident.
“They will look to establish, as best as they can, what contributed to what failure; whether the material was waterlogged or the pit wall was encumbered at the top of the face or if the material might have overloaded it. They would have to check to see if the method which they are operating gave them sufficient opportunity to get away. It’s a whole gamut of things,” the GGMC commissioner explained.
Dennison pointed out that the GGMC has been trying to target that particular area, and the entire Mahdia by extension since they have noticed that it is a hotspot for mining accidents.
“Without giving too much of a speculative outlook, it’s that this area is an area that there have been mining historically so you are mining and operating in an environment where materials have already been mined and that contributes to instability and that’s a challenge for people in general,” he said.
Unconsolidated
Dennison further explained that in some areas, there are people who might be working with tailings that are unconsolidated. As a result, when it rains, they become fluidised and can eventually result in a cave-in, similar to what happened.
“We don’t know yet but we heard about the pit wall being around 20 feet and that has to be ascertained because if the phase had no benches that’s another opportunity for these kinds of slippages. There are a lot of things that has to be looked at from a technical point,” Dennison added.
He said that they have been doing extensive awareness work in the area and try to balance between “being draconian and trying to encourage people to do the right thing.” However, he said that they have recognised that there are times when they have to invoke the law.
The team is expected to arrive in the area by the end of the week and should be able to present a preliminary report by the end of the month, Dennison said. He added that they will also use the opportunity to sensitise the people of the surrounding area on the issues they have to be cognisant of.
“It’s a very hurtful thing because we spent a lot of time and money and it’s an expensive proposition because you can be putting resources to other things like awareness programmes, promoting safety in mines area,” he said.
In 2015, a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) set up by President David Granger in the 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.
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 erosion on steep surfaces. “Many miners live in fear of falling walls, and running from falling walls has become a daily practice,” the report had emphasised.
