Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat and Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai on Friday met with residents of the Amerindian Village of Chenapau, Region 8 which has been the scene of protests over eviction from mining areas.
The regulatory authorities said that the miners were prospecting in protected areas.
A release on Friday from the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) said that the meeting was facilitated in an effort to provide assistance to the villagers for their mining activities and to discuss the provision of alternative mining lands.
It said that MNR and the Guyana Geo-logy and Mines Commission (GGMC) will work along with the villagers to ensure that mining in the Kaieteur National Park is eliminated, the release said. Staff of the GGMC will help residents of Chenapau to locate alternative mining properties within the village and outside of the national park. The release said that the Ministers also listened to and addressed other concerns of the residents, in addition to discussing development projects for the community.
Present at Friday’s meeting were Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Ryan Toolsiram, Deputy Commissioners of the GGMC, Jimmy Reece and Jacques Foster, and other senior staff of the GGMC and the MNR.
Dozens of Chenapau villagers on October 28 protested their removal by the GGMC from near the Kaieteur National Park (KNP) where they said they had been granted permission to mine.
The incident occurred when several police ranks, accompanied by the chief warden of the parks and officers of the GGMC visited the Potaro-Siparuni community and informed the residents that they were mining within a protected area and as such, must leave the site or face legal consequences.
