Jail terms, higher fines and the retention of a notice period prior to mining are among the revised land use proposals under consideration, leaving miners on edge about the future of the industry.
According to new draft regulations being considered by the extended Special Land Use Committee (SLUC), anyone who alters or changes the course of a waterway, creek or river without the permission of the subject Minister will be fined $500,000 in the first instance, $1M in the second instance and $1.5M plus a year imprisonment in the third instance or thereafter.
Additionally, jail terms are envisioned for those breaking agreements. According to the regulation being considered, anyone working on a claim that does not belong to that person must enter into a legal agreement with the claim holder. Persons are liable to a fine of $100,000 plus a period of imprisonment not exceeding one year if they refuse to fulfil the terms of the agreement.
These rules are among others now being considered by the SLUC, following which a report will be sent to President Bharrat Jagdeo and Cabinet.
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.
“It’s crunch time and we are a little uneasy,” said President of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Frederick McWilfred yesterday. The GGDMA objects to the principle of imprisonment, he said.
Mining week is being celebrated this week and in an ad headlined ‘Happy Mining Week? For Whom?’ the GGDMA said that “jail” is what the government is promising miners.
The ad outlines the new rules, which include that a person can be jailed if they divert any water without the minister’s permission; “miners must make the river and creek water as clear as drinking water; miners must spend more than $500,000 in prospecting for each property before they can mine; miners must pay $100,000 environmental bond for every major piece of equipment they own; miners must give six months notice before they start mining (yes, it is still here despite all the promises); and if you do all of this, we will give you only five years to mine an area, after which you must leave, even if it still has gold.”
The six-month notification period proposal is the watered down version of the original, and it was proposed to miners when Jagdeo met them at Liliendaal earlier this year.
Last week the miners had expressed their apprehension about the industry’s future in light of the proposed new rules while saying they were concerned that land once available for mining is not being released as normal. Executive Secretary of the GGDMA Edward Shields had said that while it is good that the authorities are sending proposals to miners for review before they are made law, everything that is being recommended is “more or less a back door approach to getting people out of mining.”
The GGDMA is going to ask the government to revisit the setting up of areas specifically for mining, in the same way that Amerindian reservations are set out, said McWilfred yesterday.
He pointed out too that in spite of all the recommendations, the government might do something totally different to what they propose and “therefore we are concerned”.
Last week, at its bi-monthly meeting, the GGDMA had pointed out that one of its main concerns is that the regulatory agency, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) is acquiring quite a lot of property. Shields had explained that according to regulations, once rental is not paid or a person gives up their prospecting licence, the land reverts to the GGMC and persons can only re-acquire it through a lottery or auction. He said that each month, this “closed area” is growing.
