Georgetown: While the Government continues to intensify efforts to expand the mining industry here, concerns are being raised about the security mechanisms that would be put in place for new blocks being offered through auctions.
A slump in gold prices on the international market has had unfavourable effects on the local industry with a decline in gold declarations and miners blaming decreased production for that decline.
Approximately 700,000 acres of land in the interior are being made available to small and medium-scale miners in Guyana’s six mining districts. The lands are being made available by way of auction and lottery and while some miners have rejected the process, some are asking what will happen when they have the blocks.
Questions are being raised about the availability of security for the new mining blocks, considering complaints about the low manpower of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to effectively carry out its remit in the interior regions. In addition, concerns have also been raised about the ability of the officers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to monitor illegal mining activities and other adverse practices in the interior.
As the auction for the blocks got underway for a second day at the Girl Guides Pavilion on Brickdam, Georgetown, one miner who spoke to Guyana Times said he was very much concerned about the ability of the GPF to do its work in the new blocks.
Dillon DeRamas pointed out that while he was grateful for the opening of new lands, he is of the opinion that the industry would thrive and return to its glory days if there were stricter enforcement of laws in the interior.
DeRamas explained that he was forced out of mining a few years ago after he was robbed of millions of dollars worth in gold, adding that if he is to purchase a block at the auction, it would not be with the intention of returning to mining immediately.
“If you’re in the North West and you want to get access to Police, you radio out and you gotta hope that they get that transmission… the biggest problem is that there isn’t enough policing” DeRamas stressed. DeRamas noted too that as of present, the Police Force lacks the human resource capacity to monitor the interior effectively, which begs the question of how will they be able to manage the new stretches of land being made available to miners.
“Where can they find the manpower to monitor these new places, they can’t manage the existing places, imagine what gon happen when they got to manage these new areas… if there was Police in the area, people would think twice about doing bad, the industry would thrive if they had more people managing and enforcing the laws in Guyana,” the man said.
He also pointed to the need for GGMC officers to be better equipped to carry out their mandate. He said that poachers and illegal miners would not necessarily heed the warnings of a GGMC officer, given that the officer does not have the ability to arrest them.
DeRamas said “nobody is scared of a guy who just walks in and says, I gon come back and chase yall with the Police… sometimes they come and the people fire two shots and the officers gone, cause they can’t shoot back.”
Meanwhile, another gold miner Michael Correia said that while he welcomed the auction by the Government, there is also need for serious consideration to be placed on the importance of the environment. He said that instead of just digging pits, miners should attempt to drill holes in the ground to verify the presence of the minerals before digging. This way, the miners would not have to practise much reclamation and would not destroy land looking for gold that isn’t there.
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