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The enriched bullies and the Minister
Dear Editor,
The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment told SN reporters (SN, December 8, 2012) that “…We are awaiting some more information and as I said a team will be in Curacao meeting with the relevant persons,” and added “I was told that the gold did not originate from Guyana,”
The response shows no real urgency or determination by the Minister that he is ready to confront the core issue of illegal mining in the country. The Iranians and the government now shared the full knowledge about the pin-point locations of the country’s vast mineral resources. The Government has failed to tell the electorate what it is doing to protect the country’s mineral wealth, now that the knowledge it is being shared by a foreign country.
Satellite technologies are available that can help to put an end to illegal mining and deforestation and to protect the country’s rich mineral resources. The investment costs using such technologies would be marginal, when compared to the doubling of revenue income that would be recovered, providing the Minister is genuinely committed to act to protect the future of the country.
The wide gap between declared and illegal gold production would become marginal, and the well-oiled conveyor belt of illegal gold smuggling and exporting could be halted and dismantled. The Minister could also try to emulate some of the steps adopted by the Brazilian Government. The Brazilians are using satellite imaging and deploying helicopters with armed officials to seek out and destroy illegal mining equipment and camps, in their battle to save the Amazonian rainforest, which they now come to regard as the lungs of the world.
If the Minister continues to blandly treat gold smuggling as a one-off incident then the future of Guyana would become even bleaker. Displaced smugglers and illegal miners from across porous borders would look to Guyana as their soft target for exploitation. Terrence Adams, Secretary to the GGDMA Secretary has confirmed that ‘Illegal mining is now endemic in the mining industry, with no end in sight,’ (SN, Nov 27, 2012) and that ‘illegal mining is creating an environment where only the bullies survive in mining, and the country suffers,
If the gold mining industry is now being taken over and controlled by ‘illegal mining bullies’, then this effectively negates the role of Natural Resources and Environment Minister and to render it virtually useless and defunct.
Mac Mahase
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