Amidst growing concern over a government proposal for a six-month waiting period before mining can commence, Barticians plan to shut down the mining town on Monday, February 1st in protest.
This week residents gathered at a series of meetings in the Region Seven township to oppose the proposal they say will wipe out the small and medium scale gold-mining industry. “Ninety-five percent of people around here depend `pon mining”, said one miner. “Look at what happen in Linden with bauxite, all the people without jobs. That’s what we trying to avoid in Bartica”.
At a public meeting on Wednesday night, residents vented their anger at the proposal, which from all indications thus far, the government is pushing ahead with. Miners countrywide oppose the proposal, they say is a threat to their existence and have called on government to withdraw it. Industry operators say that in excess of 100,000 persons are directly and indirectly supported by the industry.
“We have to take action to heighten the awareness of the government to our concerns as to the consequence that would accrue both to us as miners and Bartica, as a mining community, which is solely dependent on gold and diamond mining for its existence”, said Fred McWilfred of the Committee of Concerned Barticians. He told Stabroek News that while for now, focus is on the Monday mass protest; they have applied for permission for protests on Tuesday and Wednesday and will decide on further action as events move along.
The planned protest, during which the entire town including schools and transportation services are expected to ground to a halt, is the strongest action to be taken thus far by the sector.
The six-month notice period and several other recent measures have been linked to the government’s pursuit of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and a recent forest protection agreement initialled with the Kingdom of Norway. Ever since the LCDS came into being the authorities have been taking steps to tighten regulations in the relevant industries and the mining industry has seen increased focus, with miners being told that they would have to radically transform their mindset and operations.
President Bharrat Jagdeo has stated that the LCDS would not see a cessation of activities within the forest, and he assured that no rule would be made to shut down the industry. However, several miners have openly stated that with the proposals now being floated, the industry would be reduced to 10 to 15 small and medium scale miners.
