Toshao of Chinese Landing Orin Fernandes has said officers from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) who recently visited the community concluded that there are no glaring violations at the Tassawini mines.
The report to the Village Council was presented on Saturday last following a three-day visit to the Region One indigenous community by a team of officers from both agencies. The officers told Fernandes that they were responding to a series of reports that were published in “a newspaper”.
On Wednesday, August 10, three officers from the GGMC and two from the EPA ventured to Chinese Landing, where they met with Fernandes and informed him that they are there to carry out an investigation of Sunday Stabroek’s reports. However, Fernandes said that the miners were already aware of the visit days before the team arrived and they hid several pieces of illegal equipment and over half of the miners travelled to nearby villages where they stayed until the officers concluded their assessment.