Once bustling with bars, snackettes and miners, the landing which serves as the core of the gold mining community in the Marudi Mountains in the Rupununi has become eerily desolate – a ghost town filled with nothing but empty shacks and a handful of persons as a years-long stalemate between prospectors and the regulatory authorities continues.
Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat in a brief comment said that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) halted mining activities so that fresh consultations could be held between Guyana Goldstrike Inc, formerly known as Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd (which holds an 18-year mining licence on its 13,500 hectares Marudi gold project) and the Rupununi Miners Association (RMA), small miners, and the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) – an Indigenous Rights group in Region Nine.