Illegal mining widespread after freeze on leasing

-GGMC response hampered by insufficient staff, Singh says

A frozen land allocation process has resulted in widespread illegal mining, while the response of the Guyana Geology and Mines Com-mission (GGMC) has been hampered by the fact that it only has 41% of its required staffing, mining officials said yesterday.

Since late 2009, lands normally offered for mining have not been made available through the usual processes and with many smaller operators unable to obtain land, they have resorted to mining without permission, Executive Director of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), Edward Shields said. “It has become so rampant that even the decent miners have now gone to join them,” Shields told the bi-monthly meeting of the Association yesterday even as he rejected illegal mining and urged strong action against the perpetrators.

More and more persons have been jumping into the gold mining industry in recent times, lured by a boom in gold prices over the past few years. Concerns of illegal mining have been raised before.

Joe Singh

On Tuesday, 14 illegal miners were fined and ordered to stop mining at Omai and an official at De Bear’s Precious Metals Inc told the meeting that 13 illegal operations were discovered in the company’s North West District property recently. Last month, several dredges were ordered to clean up their operations in the Konawaruk. There have been other incidents.

Acting Commissioner of the GGMC Karen Livan told Stabroek News that illegal mining is an ongoing problem, while Chairman of the GGMC Board of Directors Major General (rtd) Joe Singh told the meeting that the GGMC is working with just over 60 Mines Officers and needs about 100 more to oversee the six mining districts. With this low number, Singh said, the Commission can only give “notational relief” by saying that they will send officers in when breaches occur. He also pointed to the difficulties that are encountered, such as the miners moving before the officers can get there. The GGMC cannot continue with this “runaway” growth in mining without its staffing on a firm footing, Singh said.

Edward Shields

Shields told Stabroek News that vast areas where, in the past, miners set up their operations, are now “closed areas” under the management of the understaffed GGMC and operators with no access to land “raid” these areas. Incidents are widespread, he said. According to the Executive Director, now, even “decent” miners are being “pressured” to mine without permission. He had alluded to a situation where a miner gets approval to mine an area, only to find that others had already mined there. “The majority of the people that are involved are the Brazilians because they go anywhere and mine,” said Shields. According to him, 60% of them are mining on state land.

Earlier, he had noted that an amendment to the mining regulations saw miners who allowed their medium-scale licence to lapse, losing the property with the land only available again by lottery or auction. He had noted that smaller miners could not afford to bid against the richer operators and this caused problems. However, he noted, neither auctions nor lotteries have been held for a while. “We have a lot of mining areas… that are legally frozen,” Shields said. “The state land has become no-man’s land.”

“Every month more and more property is going into this basket,” Shields observed. He said that the association is lobbying for these lands to be opened and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds has promised that he will work hard to get these lands released. He also noted that no one invests millions to do the wrong thing and for most, the first priority is mining.

However, he noted that the GGDMA has responsibilities and has to accept these if it is to retain its credibility. He said that the Association has recommended to the Prime Minister that strong action be taken against those working illegally. He warned that equipment will be seized. “When the hammer comes down… don’t come to the association,” he said. He pointed out that with these types of actions, it is everyone who is losing.

Meantime, Singh said as the commission works to get staffing to the optimum level, greater attention will be paid to mining districts where there is intense activity. The GGMC is being restructured and Singh noted that there have been difficulties recruiting qualified people. He suggested several actions which could be done to gain qualified personnel while also pointing out the need for experienced persons.

The GGMC Chairman also noted that the GGMC has made significant progress, and pointed to several achievements, saying that the Commission has perhaps not beaten its own drum even as he observed that it is being “pilloried” at the Cabinet level “by those who believe they know it all.”