GOLD MINERS MAKE THEIR PITCH FOR DUTY FREE CONCESSIONS

Jan 17, 2016 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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The Ministry of Natural Resources has begun a series of ‘hearings’ with miners of gold and diamonds who have requested duty-free concessions on machinery, fuel, vehicles and other related paraphernalia.  The Ministry is collaborating with the Tax Concession Review Committee (TCRC) and last week, Minister Raphael Trotman, supported by the Technical Officer and other staff of the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC), began to meet with miners one-on-one to discuss their applications.
This initiative is in response to the current slump in which the precious metals industry worldwide finds itself with extremely low world prices for gold, a pending (in some places) ban on the use of mercury, which miners (porkknockers) in Guyana have been using for as long they could remember to bind the particles of gold found in stone, sand, mud and sludge.  The new technologies recommended include the Shaking Table.
GGMC has been promoting environmentally safer and more technologically advanced methods of reclaiming gold, but miners have complained that these new methods require them to make substantial capital investments in a time when their revenue has reduced.  They find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea.
It is very necessary that the Government finds ways to lessen the burden on our miners.  After all, their work and their products now account for a considerable percentage of national revenue earnings.  Actually, miners had been asking for concessions on land, equipment and fuel for quite some years, but the previous ‘administration’ couldn’t be bothered.  One of the promises our coalition did make to our fellow citizens was to create ‘enabling environments’ so that every sector of our economy could operate as freely as the nation’s circumstances allow.
We’re keeping that promise to our miners.  We are fully on board to assist them to make changes in their operations to protect the environments they work in; to avoid interfering with the lives and livelihoods of citizens residing in the vicinity; to ensure that the miners’ overhead expenditures are not burdensome; among other things.
This is a welcome departure from the way things used to be.  Pre-2015, the erstwhile government had demonstrated that they did not give a hoot that gold mining in many rivers resulted in toxic pollution of the only source of fresh water for a number of interior villages; or that sections of some rivers became so silted up that they became narrow creeks; or that at least one river actually ‘died’.
Dead fish, shrimp, and other underwater growth first began to show up on the banks of the river, then the flow of water grew less and less until the sandy, poisonous silt rose higher than the river banks. Still there was no action from the government, even with a minister ensconced at the then Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment raking in record levels of revenue from gold mining that was topping the traditional sectors (rice, sugar, bauxite).
So the ball is rolling and Minister Trotman, Ms. Euliene Watson and other functionaries met the first ten (10) miners last week to discuss duty-free and other concessions.
The miners were given the opportunity to present their cases and they answered questions about their operations.  At the close of the reviews, they were assured that a decision would be taken and communicated to them within ten days.
The Ministry’s directive to establish the Tax Concession Review Committee was prompted by complaints by miners about sloth, along with allegations of impropriety in the procedures for approval of concessions.
Minister Trotman also made it clear to the miners that Government was concerned that in some instances, the privilege of tax waivers that some miners had already received was not always respected by some miners.  He informed the miners that the deliberations for concessions would also include other factors such as the amount of gold and diamonds declared, health and welfare practices, safety record, mine construction and environmental management before making decisions.
After meeting with the miners, the Minister of Natural Resources is expected to make recommendations to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).  These meetings meet with miners applying for tax waivers will take place every fortnight.
On its assumption to office in May 2015, the new Government began a partnership with the Guyana Gold & Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) that first yielded a list of mining equipment and spare parts that would be eligible for tax concessions.  This team also came up with an acceptable mechanism for approval of requests for tax/duty exemptions.
Meanwhile, last Sunday, a team led by Ministers Raphael Trotman and Simona Broomes, spent the day with Region Eight miners at Mahdia.  At a town hall-styled meeting they gave the miners the assurance that the Coalition Government is determined to ensure that they are able to work, maintain healthy lifestyles, and secure their fair share of Guyana’s national patrimony.
The visiting team comprised the two Ministers and officials from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the Region 8 Administration and Commander of ‘F’ Division, Mr. Ravindradat Budhram.
Among the topics discussed were:
·    Roads and infrastructure
·    Mining pit accidents
·    Prevalence of alcohol and narcotics consumption
·    Mining and Land boundaries
These discussions continued during a subsequent symposium for small-scale miners at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) at which the miners were invited to make recommendations for forward movement of the sector.

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