Dear Editor,
Recently I received a report that some dredges were conducting mining activities on my gold claim. I went and investigated and found it to be true. I was told by some of the dredge owners that they were granted permission by a woman who claimed that the gold claim belongs to her. They even told me that a mines officer confirmed that the claim indeed belongs to the woman and they must pay the percentage to her. It must be noted this woman’s claims in that area were deemed null and void by the GGMC since 2013, and even though the mines officer is aware of this he still instructs the dredge owners to pay the percentage to her. I later learned that the percentage was being divided between them.
I reported the matter to the mining station. The officer in charge told me he will look into it.
A couple of days later he told me he went into the area and issued a cease work order to the dredges there, and that he has to do some follow-up investigation in the area since the claim falls within a mining permit. I later learned that no cease work order was issued, and that the mines officer advised the dredge owners to seek permission from the mining permit owner to work on that disputed claim. According to the laws of the GGMC where there is a disputed claim, cease work orders are issued and no work is allowed until the matter is resolved. However, that was not the case here. I have since reported the matter to the authorities in Georgetown and I would be very interested to discover what disciplinary action will be taken against these rogue officers.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Crawford
