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150 miners participate in lottery

Mar 24, 2019 News

The government says it has kept its promise. It held its first mining lottery in the first quarter of 2019 for small scale miners.
After listening to concerns of residents regarding mining and land allocation during a visit to Mahdia in Region Eight last month, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, revealed that he had taken steps to hold a lottery to benefit the local community.
The minister had stated that he had written to Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Commissioner, Newell Dennison, about hosting a lottery.
On Friday, Minister Trotman said he was elated that Government had kept its promise. He said for a very long time he felt the frustration of Guyanese who could not access these prospective properties. “Today is a good day for miners.”
“Today is a feeling of elation, of satisfaction that something that we wanted to do for some time is actually getting done and I’m happy that it is being done without any controversy or confusion.”
The exercise got underway just about 10:00hrs at the Girls Guide Pavilion in Brickdam.
Over 150 miners registered and paid a non-refundable participating fee of $5,000 to become eligible for the lottery.
They would have also had to provide their National Identification card, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) certificate and proof of address.
Minister Trotman said that in the group, there were persons who never mined before, but like everyone else, they too had a right to the country’s natural resources.
He said the staff at GGMC had been busy in the background.
“They have been going through coordinates… we have to ensure that the lands are not somebody else’s land and that they have a good prospect for gold recovery.”
In the meantime, many miners related their gratitude and satisfaction.
Alicia Veloza said the miners waited a long time to acquire land in the extraction sector.
“For years we had problems acquiring land, and so we had to work on other people’s land. This is an opportunity to have our own.”
Minister Trotman said there will be other mining lotteries in various parts of the country; including Bartica, Mahdia, Port Kaituma and Matthews Ridge. (DPI)

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