The economic exploitation of Guyana’s precious metals sector cannot be allowed to proceed without taking stock of the need to be mindful of the safety considerations that must be applied in the mining sector, Minister in the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment Simona Broomes told Stabroek Business on Tuesday in the wake of Monday’s mining accident at Mahdia, in which a 19-year-old labourer lost his life.
“If we are going to talk about how important the gold-mining sector is to the Guyana economy we are also going to have to say—in the same breath—what we are prepared to do to make gold recovery safer for the people who work in the sector,” Broomes said.
“It is not any single factor. In some cases, unfortunately, it is about putting profit before human life. But it goes beyond that. Sometimes we find cases where the people who run mining operations may simply not be particularly experienced people. There are other cases in which training is lacking.
