-GGDMA head
Miners are determined that their concerns should be properly addressed and any attempt to institute harsh and draconian measures in the sector would be “ill advised,” head of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Frederick McWilfred says.
As Mining Week culminated with Pork-knockers Day in Bartica yesterday, McWilfred informed those gathered in the Region Seven community for the occasion that the GGDMA will represent the interest of miners and mining even at the risk of being perceived as confrontational. “We are committed to a partnership with the government… to protect, promote and sustain the mining sector in Guyana, especially the gold and diamond mining industry and the communities that depend on them,” he said. “However, our partnership arrangements have to be qualified,” he continued, pointing out that the various parties represent various sides of the issues involved, each with their own perception of what is best for the mining industry.
According to McWilfred, in the process there will be serious and even fundamental differences and this would sometimes give rise to the articulation of positions and forms of expression that would seem confrontational.
“This is inevitable,” because they are dealing with issues that involve the lives of people, the continued viable existence of citizens and the survival of a whole community, he said. The GGDMA has very strong views on some of the issues and will express them “wherever and however we see fit,” he added.
Earlier this week and also at a meeting last week, miners expressed their uneasiness over new draft rules being considered by the Special Land Use Committee (SLUC) which included jail terms, higher fines, and the retention of a notice period prior to mining. The SLUC was set up to look into mining issues after miners raised concerns that the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) would affect their operations and livelihoods.
“We are resolved to ensuring that our views are taken seriously and that our concerns are properly addressed,” McWilfred said yesterday. “There has to be a careful and studied approach to the changes we seek to make. Any attempt to institute harsh and draconian measures… would be ill-advised,” he warned, even as he acknowledged that miners need to improve their business practices.
McWilfred pointed out that miners, except for a very few, lack the technical and/or administrative capacity to comply with even existing regulations much less new and more stringent ones.
“We are dealing with a peculiar culture and a unique set of business arrangements here when dealing with mining,” he said pointing out that the industry is a major sector of the national economy and production is very crucial to foreign exchange earnings. He said that the partnership arrangements therefore must take these issues into account and “we must be careful that in spite of all our good intentions of all sides that we do not do more harm than good in trying to institute measures in the industry.”
Citing Bartica as the ‘mining capital,’ he said that the progress seen there is wholly dependent on gold and warned that progress in other mining communities such as Mahdia and Port Kaituma must not be jeopardized in any way.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds acknowledged that the pace at which change is brought about is a challenge. He spoke in light of miners needing to improve their operations particularly with respect to the question of negative environmental impact. “The issue for any leader… is the pace at which we need to improve our operations so as to stay ahead of the negative criticism,” he said.
Hinds, who is also the Minster with responsibility for mining, said that there is need for debate and for open minds and hopefully, they will make the right judgment as to the pace at which miners need to improve their operations.
He also pointed to the technical challenges, saying that miners have to become better at recovering gold. In this light, he mentioned that maybe in three to four years’ time; mercury may not be available legally on the international market. “We have to move along and try to develop methods which don’t need mercury,” he said pointing out that there are options.
The Prime Minister also spoke on social challenges saying he has heard of young men going to the interior to look for gold and returning as “monsters in our community,” with no gold but sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS and drug habits. In the course of seeking gold, they cannot make persons worse off instead of better, he said.
As the day went by yesterday, more and more persons turned out for the celebrations and Hinds said that he hopes that Mining Week will have a place on the tourism calendar. There were several competitions reflecting activities that occur in mining camps while there were exhibitions of machinery and information booths set up by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.
