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High operating costs contribute to low gold declarations – Region Eight Chairman
Several theories have surfaced since it was announced that gold declarations have declined for this year, but undeniable
Region Eight Chairman Mark Crawford.
factors pertaining to ground operations and sustainability are being overlooked, Region Eight Chairman, Mark Crawford believes.
He is of the view that numerous issues affecting the industry itself might be playing a bigger role than is being considered.
The Potaro-Siparuni Regional Chairman explained that operators, specifically the small miners in his location, are finding it hard to keep their heads above water for several reasons; high cost of operations, worked-out lands, poor security and improper roads. This, he said, has been of great concern to many operators.
The government recently announced that gold declarations dropped by 20 percent when compared with the corresponding period the year. Allegations of hoarding and even smuggling of the precious metal to neighbouring Suriname have surfaced.
Crawford says, however, that smuggling has been occurring all the time and it is likely to continue if conditions of sale are better elsewhere. The theory of hoarding seems a bit farfetched since currently, miners are having difficulty keeping up with operational costs, he added.
The Chairman added that investigations in his region revealed that many miners were shrinking their operations because of the limited work areas. He said that the lands are worked out, and government ought to release more closed lands since, “A lot of the miners have parked their operations or minimize their size to stay in business.”
The Chairman continued that given the growing contribution to the economy, Government should step in to assist just as they do with the sugar and rice industries.
“More than 100 excavators were repossessed from miners last year because they could not pay their installments; I propose that government has special loans and measures in place to help small miners.” He said that operators are finding it hard to sustain operations when they have workers to pay, limited land to work and high operational cost.
Crawford commented on the roads. Getting around is very expensive and time consuming, he explained. The interior areas have many poor and unkept roads. The Bartica/Potaro Road is impassable, so to get from Region Eight to Region Seven, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, people have to travel an extra 200 miles, which includes two ferry crossings to get to their locations.
Crawford did not leave out the poor security which he said miners are becoming more mindful of. “Persons are telling you straight up that they are not going and work nowhere where people will rob and kill them.”
Crawford told Kaieteur News that for his region; mining district number two, which covers from Ayanganna Mountain to Omai; (the entire Potaro River) the police are very restricted in their mobility. He said the location covers a vast piece of land with a number of locations, but there are about eight officers with one All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) servicing the area.
This, he said, is inadequate and the government should seek to supply more officers, at least one boat, more ATVs and an enclosed land cruiser.
He disagreed with claims of hoarding, saying that these utterances “are discouraging the miners who are already facing hardships. This shows the disconnection between the government and what is going on the ground.”
Crawford said that it appears as if the government is interested in the small miners only for what they can produce since nothing solid seems to be in place to assist them.
The Chairman said that his region is heavily dependent on the mining industry for its economic existence. Investigations, he said, have shown that business has declined since gold production is below usual.
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