Brazilian miners form association

Some of the Brazilian miners who attended the meeting.

Brazilian miners, who want government to reform the protracted immigration process, yesterday formed an association to support their countrymen in obtaining legal residence and understanding mining in Guyana.

The Brazil Mining and General Association (BMGA), an organisation based in Georgetown, was last  evening formed after hundreds of miners turned up at a meeting at Robb and Cummings Street to voice concerns over the recent “Operation El Dorado,” a law enforcement exercise that  saw over 94 miners deported and many others detained. The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) had explained that the miners did not have the requisite documentation to work on Guyana’s soil.

However, most of the miners yesterday bemoaned the current immigration system, saying that their permits take as much as three years to be processed and in the interim they are not