Gold smuggling beyond the ambit of GGMC

Dec 29, 2012 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The rambling response from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) (KN, Dec 12, 2012) must be highly welcomed in a country where there is a dire scarcity of transparency and accountability. Sadly they failed to address the real issues facing the country and, to protect and secure the country’s natural wealth for the benefit of its citizens.
The GGMC claimed that its emphasis is on ‘Lawful and Responsible Mining’ (KN, Dec 10, 1012). The claim was not backed up by any real, convincing facts and, readers are expected to take their claim as ‘fait accompli’.
Hiding in their bureaucratic tower, the representatives provided no statistical or demographic accounting on what is actually taking place on the ground. They admitted that there are ‘breaches of mining regulations’ but ‘this does not necessarily make it ‘illegal’’. This adds to the dilemma and the use of the GGMC’s own, hollow value judgments being glibly applied, when the future of the country’s greatest natural wealth is at stake.
The GGMC is also in conflict with statements made by the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA). Terrence Adams, GGDMA’s 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.
The Commission apparently has no role to play in the security and protection of mining, and dismissed this concern in the following manner, ‘gold sales, declaration and smuggling will require a broader approach that goes beyond the ambit of the GGMC’.
Mac Mahase

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