Corruption in GGMC? ...Illegal mining permits a mere perception, says GGDMA officials

Corruption in GGMC? …Illegal mining permits a mere perception, says GGDMA officials

Sep 10, 2013 News

By Kiana Wilburg
Officials of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) have refuted claims of land permits being acquired illegally. He also addressed the perception that the complexion of their system is one of corruption.
On June 29, last, Kaieteur News reported some views expressed by US Ambassador, D. Brent Hardt and Canadian High Commissioner, David Devine, during a two-day seminar which was aimed at examining the challenges facing

Rickford Vieira, Commissioner (ag)

Guyana’s Investment climate.
The diplomats said that Guyana’s rich extractive industries have attracted the attention of many overseas investors. And with the increased gold prices during the past years, Canadian companies have expressed a keen interest in investing in Guyana.
However, of much concern, are reports about the “long waits to acquire land permits and the corruption involved in obtaining the said documents.”
Speaking on the issue was Administrative Coordinator of the GGDMA, Colin Sparman, who said that when the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment came into being in 2012, there was a review of some of the processes within the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), one of which included the awarding of different licences and /or permits. These were put on hold for various reasons.
Kaieteur News understands that for some time, conflict surrounded particularly, the Amerindian titled areas and extensions to these lands which led to an administrative hold on these. The protected areas which came into being sometime around then were excluded from mining.
Sparman explained that there was a backlog of work in the system, some due to problems with the verifications of claims.
He said, “For these lands to be legally claimed, they had to be verified and the verification process takes some time. GGMC officials would have to go out on the ground where the miner would mark off his claim and they would verify it.”
Among many of the other issues that needed much attention were cases where the officials also discovered that there were unlawful allocations for some claims where persons might have been paying rentals for them for years.
Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Rickford Vieira asserted that there is simply no possible way for land permits to be acquired illegally. “Too many mechanisms are in place for such to even occur.”
Vieira noted that while the system was clogged up for some time due to changes that were imperative, the backlog of work has been cleared up since August. “The wait would not be so long anymore.”
“Staff worked overtime to bring about a state of normalcy in the processing system.”