GGMC Board recommends closure of lab at Gold Board

Apr 21, 2018 News

GGMC Board Chairman, Stanley Ming

The Board of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) has recommended that the Gold Board lab where the burning of the amalgam is done be closed until such time that it can be relocated to an area where it will not be a hazard to society.
Gold Board’s lab is housed in the GGMC Brickdam compound. The Board’s decision was confirmed by its Chairman, Stanley Ming.
Ming said that on Thursday, “the board agreed that the lab should be closed and thereafter, an alternative location should be found where the lab can operate without similar risks.”
Ming said, “If I were working there, I would have been genuinely concerned about being further contaminated. I always tend to put myself in the position of other when making certain decisions.”
Ming said that the recommendation was sent to Ministry of Natural Resources.
“That decision is now in the hands of the Ministry of Natural Resources, we do not know what they will do that is their purview but we made a recommendation based on what we think is in the best interest of the staff,” said Ming.
The Chairman said that he is well aware that there may be challenges arising out of the closing of the lab. “If you close the lab, there are going to be problems, one of which has to be dealt with promptly. That is, where do the people who have to sell gold to the Gold Board go?
“I know that miners usually go to the Gold Board to sell gold in order to get money to turn over so it creates a bottle neck in the system. But my main concern, as the Chairman of the GGMC, has to be the safety and welfare of GGMC employees.”
More than 50 GGMC workers tested positive with elevated levels of mercury in their blood due to above normal emissions by the Gold Board’s laboratory. The workers have since been given medications, which have a long list of side effects.
Workers who spoke to Kaieteur News said that if government refuses to remove the lab, they will take the government to court.

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