Two legitimate gold miners operating separate mining claims in the interior have responded with skepticism to the recent official undertaking given by Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat that government will continue to set its face against illegal mining.
Speaking recently on the occasion of the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission’s (GGMC) forty-second Anniversary, the Natural Resources Minister proffered a commitment that government will redouble efforts to stem both the loss of revenue to the public treasury and the damage resulting from the application of environmentally questionable methods in many illegal mining operations, though the two miners, both of whom agreed to speak with the Stabroek Business on condition of anonymity, asserted that it would be impossible for government to persuade anyone who understands what one described as the “bottom line” of gold mining that it is serious about stemming the tide of the practice.
