The emphasis is on lawful and responsible mining

Dec 12, 2012 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission stridently advocate and proactively work towards lawful, responsible mining at all levels in Guyana and would like to clarify inaccuracies penned by Mac Mahase in the December 10, edition of Kaieteur News.
The Commission would like to point out that several measures and requirements are in place to encourage and ensure responsible mining in Guyana – including mining lawfully – having the legal right to mine; mining on legal mining properties with the requisite formal approvals from the property holder and the GGMC; and keeping production records. Here it must be noted that a miner with the right to mine may be in breach of one or more mining regulations but this does not necessarily make the operation “illegal”.
A statement that information provided about the gold that was stolen in Curacao indicated that there isn’t any paperwork or evidence that the gold originated from Guyana is by no means a show of lack of urgency to confront the issue of illegal mining.
As an important part of its Work Programme, GGMC routinely regulates mining activities in the Mining Districts, and in addition, special exercises are carried out to deal with miners who are in breach of critical aspects of the Mining Regulations, or where the breach of key regulations is widespread.
Mineral resources assessment to generate and update information on the mineral wealth of a country is an ongoing exercise, providing a good indication of potential mineral occurrences. Even when potential mineral occurrences are known, further exploration, usually by exploration and mining groups or individuals, is needed to find and define economic mineral deposits. This is the nature and the inherent risk in mining.
The MNRE has engaged a number of bilateral parties to conduct geological investigations and studies to lead to a mineral resource assessment in Guyana, but this has not progressed to the planning, defining, approving, funding and implementation of such a programme, which would be expected to extend over several years.
The use of satellite imagery will give an indication of deforestation and interpretation of the deforestation may indicate where mining had or may be taking place, and this may be operations on lawful mining properties or unlawful operations in areas or on properties where mining is not allowed. Through the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System (MRVS) of the arrangement between the governments of Guyana and Norway for low and controlled deforestation in State Forests to annual agreed limits, satellite imagery is being applied to monitoring deforestation caused by all activities in State Forests, including mining.
This gives a good indication of the deforestation at the time the satellite imagery was taken. This complements the routine monitoring, regulation and enforcement activities of the GGMC.
The Small and Medium Scale gold mining sector is expanding in response to the high gold prices and this is creating new situations on the ground as miners and investors seek places to work immediately, or places that are felt to be more lucrative. Unfortunately, some are resorting to trespassing on the properties of others.
This is strongly discouraged by the GGMC and follow up actions are being taken on the ground. In addition, mineral properties are distributed by periodic lotteries in the Mining Districts. In order to more closely monitor and regulate mining activities of which Small and Medium Scale gold and diamond mining operations are predominant, more field officers are needed and GGMC is taking active steps to recruit, train and deploy additional officers.
GGMC has from time to time carried out economic studies of mining activities in the different sub-sectors and will continue to do such in order to obtain factual information on mining activities and the related economics.
In addition, GGMC is undertaking a pilot study for the tracking of dredge operating units using electronic devices.
The Mining Industry continues to grow and evolve and there are and will be challenges on various fronts. As these challenges arise, even in the form of what might be deemed “bullying”, they have to be addressed in the context of the law.
GGMC is responding to the challenges and to the new and unfolding situations, cognizant for the need of protection of revenue that accrues to the state from mining and taking action on the ground. Greater application of field monitoring and regulation and generation of information on mining activities will provide more realistic information on projections on the capacity for mineral production based on equipment, methodologies, mineral recovery and the mineral potential of an area.
The wider issue of gold sales, declaration and smuggling will require a broader approach that goes beyond the ambit of the GGMC.
Office of the Commissioner
Guyana Geology and Mines Commission

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