Dear Editor,
It is with regret that as a remigrant, I am witnessing Dear Land of Guyana as a spiraling decadent society; when as a youngster, British Guiana and Guyana enjoyed and sported public decency. One sensed, smelt and contributed to national progress. Now, here enters yours truly H.O.D. Israel aka Errol A. Swan, PEng., a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada, remigrating after having been fed-up with North American politics and practices, and one who conceptualized and designed the Fluidized Bed Stratifier or FBS to dry mine gold and diamonds, rather than washing, variants of which generate turbid (dutty) waters, promotes use of toxic mercury resulting in Occupational Health and Safety issues, and using cyanide that invariably results in Omai-like disasters.
The FBS was conceptualized [details available upon request] and designed to address the aforementioned environmental issues, probably in Guyana first, then the world at large. Guyana was visited yearly since 2009, and on each occasion when Sam Hinds was Prime Minister, consultations at the office of the Prime Minister resulted in an improved design to capture flake, powder and microscopic gold. It is Hinds who also attended the first and only (thus far) on the FBS, a presentation set-up by the late (unfortunately) Mel Sankies of UG and Guyana Association of Professional Engineers, well supported and attended by employees of The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission under the leadership of Mr. Woolford. The critiques then was “Swanie, we understand you, but we need to see this thing”!
Well I spent all I had and now have the bench scale model to present on, then demonstrate at UG, Brookfield Gardens and Mahdia. One would think that this “no brainer” invention/technology would take off with expediency given the international treaty signed to minimize, then elimianate the use of mercury in gold mining. Only recently within the Business edition of Stabroek News (April 16th, 2021) the headline detailed concerns related to the continued use of mercury. In Guyana, we have learned professionals in diverse organizations including NGOs, who are interested and willing to facilitate, support and attend presentations, help market the FBS, support DIVINE Projects Inc. (2008, Canada), thereby ultimately contribute to progress. Let’s converse progressively and respectfully, please:
Sincerely,
H.O.D. Israel
Aka
Errol A. Swan, P.Eng.
