Residents of South Rupununi villages close to the Marudi goldfields have alleged that some miners have breached an agreement reached earlier this year and have asked government to intervene, the Government Information Agency (GINA) has reported.
According to GINA, junior Minister of Natural Resources Simona Broomes said the residents alleged that signatories were in breach of the agreement. “The Amerindians are complaining that they are not benefiting anything from Marudi (mining operations),” the minister was quoted as saying.
Further, she said, the residents indicated that aside from the breach in the agreement, there have been increased illicit activities such as trafficking in persons and drugs.
“They have a lot of Brazilians in particular, working the area and they are alleging that the Brazilians are taking the gold over the border,” Broomes said.
Additionally, the Minister said that the residents told her that they felt “they were being used to sign the agreement and they are being bullied at the end of it.” Broomes said she will take the matter up with her senior minister Raphael Trotman.
“I’m going to convey to him so definitely we are going to have to make some kind of decision because the activity has worsened based on the people on the ground (reports),” Broomes was quoted as saying.
On April 24, an agreement was signed by several stakeholders to settle conflicts that had escalated between large scale mining company, Romanex, miners, and several communities in the South Rupununi. At the end of the meeting, all parties approved and signed an agreement that will chart the course forward for mining in the Marudi Mountains.
The miners have been mining illegally for years in the area which is controlled by Canadian mining company Romanex. Romanex has a Mining Licence for the area but its attempts to move to mining on a larger scale has not materialised though it is making fresh efforts to do so. Conflicts have arisen between Romanex, the miners, and several indigenous communities in the South Rupununi regarding the mining operations.
GINA reported that Broomes met with 200 residents during an outreach to the South Rupununi over the weekend and the Marudi situation was a pressing matter. Broomes said that, the residents informed her that the situation had worsened since they signed an agreement to resolve the issues with Romanex Guyana Exploration Ltd.
