Govt. needs to urgently investigate the GGMC

Sep 15, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Over the years, it was widely believed that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) was one of the most corrupt entities in Guyana. I personally had shared those sentiments, by being a miner for a number of years and dealing with the GGMC. One would have expected that with the change of the new administration the staff there would have changed the way they do business since they would have been cognizant of the facts that it would not be business as usual, since there would be serious consequences if they are being caught in corruption activities. However, that was just wishful thinking. Recently I had an encounter with some mines officers which confirm to me that the GGMC still remains one of the most corrupt entity in Guyana, if not the most.
I received a report that some dredge owners were conducting mining activities on my gold claim in Mining District #2. When I went to investigate, I was told by the dredge owners that they were granted permission by a woman who claims that the claim belongs to her. They even told me that a mines officer at the Mahdia Mining Station had confirmed that the claim indeed belongs to the woman, and they must pay the percentage to the woman. It must be noted that this woman’s claim was deemed null and void by the GGMC since 2013, and even though the mines officer is aware of this he still instructed the persons to pay the percentage to her.
A responsible office in this situation would have checked the dredges to see if they have permission from the GGMC to operate, and if they do not have, they would have issued cease work order. Unfortunately, he chooses to involve in conspiracies. It must be noted that, this is the said woman who along with her husband once granted permission to dredge owners to conduct mining activities in their backyard in Mahdia which now says to me, that they would come into collision with the authorities were they to do that. I later learnt that there was a curious thing that occurred that was not straightforward. When I reported the matter to the Mahdia mining station I was given all the assurance by the officer in charge that he will look into the matter. A couple of days later, he told me he was at the claim and he had issued cease work order to the dredges there, and he has to do some follow up investigation in the area since the claim falls within a mining permit.
I later learnt that no cease-work order was issued. As a matter of fact, I learnt that the mines officer had advice the dredge owner to seek permission from the mining permit owner to mine on the dispute land. According to the GGMC in a dispute, cease-work orders are issue, and no work is allowed until the matter has been resolved. As I pen this letter mining is still being carried out on this disputed claim. I learnt that dredges are working less than 100 feet from the public road. According to the mining laws mining activities must be conducted at least 600 feet from a public road. 600 feet from the road is known as buffer zone and no mining must take place within that.
The GGMC has the responsibility of ensuring that miners pay the rightful revenue to the country, to conduct their mining activities, according to the mining laws and most importantly conducting their mining activities in an environmental friendly manner. This is a great responsibility. With irresponsible mines officers on the ground the country can be robbed of lots of needed revenue to assist in nation building. The environment can also be destroyed through irresponsible mining.
I can recall some years ago, they were a cry that they are about 9,000 dredges operating in Guyana. However, it was only about 2,500 that were registered. What was rather disturbing here is that the other dredges that were not registered were not working on Mars or on another planet that the mines officer could not have reached them to regularize them. Mines officers are equipped with all the necessary transportation to reach all the mining areas in Guyana, even security protection if they so desire. The reason these dredges were not registered was because the authorities were remiss. They were responsible for the country being robbed of lots of revenue.
I can recall on one occasion I receive a report that a dragger “a large river dredge” was working on the banks of the Potaro River. I reported the matter to the mining station, to date no action was taken. Sometime later when the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association held a meeting in Mahdia, when I raise the issue the mines Officer’s response was, they checked the area, but did not see any dredge working and there were no evidence to suggest that any mining activities had taken place on the bank of the river. Many persons in the area saw the dredges working there; they even had pictures of the dredge operating.
I can also recall on another occasion I received a report that a similar dredge was working in the Potaro river close to the Denham Bridge at nights. I reported the matter to the mines station and even had one of the guys that observe it working give a statement to the mining station, however, nothing was done.
Over the years the mines officers remain dormant and allowed miners to work out miles of public roads. I believe that something needs to be done urgently to ensure our country receives its rightful revenue from the mining sector, to assist in nation building and also to ensure that mining is conducted in an environmentally friendly manner. I would strongly recommend to the authorities to have a commission of inquiry into the functions of the GGMC as I would be more than willing to testify.
Mark Crawford

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