Residents of the Region Seven community of Kuru-tuku are concerned that the authorities seem not to be acting on their application for land extension and say mining operations on land they consider as their own are damaging the environment.
“We had applied for these areas and mining is going on. A decision has not been made so it seems like by the time a decision is made the whole area is going to be dug out with pits and the environment damage. That is the area we are going to get,” said toshao of the village, Solomon Lewis. In an interview with Stabroek News, he said that mining operations are damaging a creek which some villagers use for domestic purposes. He expressed surprise that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) had allocated the lands since they had encountered similar problems before and they had stopped miners.
Kurutuku is found in the Upper Cuyuni and is home to 154 persons from the Carib Amerindian tribe. Lewis said that
