Many Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) workers yesterday refused to turn up for work at the agency’s Brickdam headquarters, where the operations of the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) laboratory, which have ignited safety concerns, continued unhindered.
Almost all of the workers were directed by their managers to leave work indefinitely last Friday as the GGB was still burning gold at lab, which is located in the compound.
The workers have said that the mercury emissions from the gold amalgam have made the environment unsafe and the recent deaths of two workers, as a result of kidney failure, have ratcheted up fears.
After last Friday’s walkout, the Ministry of Natural Resources, in a statement, had emphasised its commitment to relocating the GGB’s lab “within the shortest possible time.”
