To live and die at ‘Troy’

Nov 24, 2019 News

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…more lies exposed

By Gary Eleazar

It is said in the Christian belief that faith, the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain but in the 21st Century, Australian operated Troy Resources Inc. one of two large-scale gold mining companies in Guyana, is doing just that, but with dynamite instead.

Operations came under intense scrutiny in recent days after Geologist Ryan Taylor was killed on the site in circumstances yet to be made public despite multiple investigations.
Government Minister, Keith Scott, ordered the mines closed in a move that raised an ugly underbelly into the operations at Troy Resources which in some aspects, according to some workers, are seen to be more regimented and laborious than a slave labour camp or even prison.
Workers complained bitterly over the conditions of work at the camp even as the union battled with employees to strike a bargain for better wages.

Troy’s response was to complain that it needed money to restart its operations or lay off its employees.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Ken Nilsson, organised a media expedition to the site on November 14, last. He heaped praise on the company’s health and other safety policies and its contributions to not just Guyana but to the community in which it operates.
The very next week workers were told that all laid off workers would be terminated. Numbers varied by different accounts to be more than 300 employees.
The news of the layoffs and its backlash elicited a response from Troy and in its defense—in a full-page advertisement in some newspapers—resorted to countering what it called false and malicious reports circulated in sections of the media.

QUESTIONABLE FIGURES
According to Troy, its Board took a decision to “terminate all 227 laid off employees”. The company went further, adding for clarity that “laid off employees were terminated; no one was dismissed or any position redundant.”
Nilsson had told the media, however, that 137 employees had been retained to keep the operations running even if not producing and that the rest had been laid off, pending the decision by the Board.
That decision turned out to be to terminate the laid off workers.But its 227 figure of employees laid off does not add up. Troy’s General Manager, Eric Olsen—in the presence of Nilsson—told members of the media that the company had in its employ 512 persons, 86 of whom were contracted.According to the General Manager, there were 21 expatriate employees. If one were to deduct the 137 staff members from that total staff count, it would mean 375 workers were laid off.

Even if Troy Resources were to say that the 86 contracted employees are not technically theirs, this leaves 289 employees and not 227 that the company now claims.There was no clarity on whether any of the expatriate employees were laid off. As such, if one were to account for the 21 expatriate workers and the 86 workers that are bound by contract, it would mean they make up 107 of those retained.
Lincoln Lewis was confident that a lawsuit will be filed against the company this week over the recent dismissals; as soon as the lawyers who are currently engaging the matter have completed their paperwork.
PRISON-LIKE ACCOMMODATIONS
The company officials boasted of providing air-conditioned accommodation, recreational facilities for drinks and possible bar-b-ques after work and a dining facility, which provides hot meals daily.
Guyanese are all too familiar with mining operations, even at a small scale and are all too familiar with the term ‘baheer’.
Legends of mining camp cooks and tales of lavish dinners, breakfast and boosters abound, and have been told for decades, since working deep in the Guyana jungle does take a toll, not alone the isolation. The claim of meals being provided “free of cost” is also laughable at least.
Media operatives were even briefed ahead of a tour to drink lots of water given the heat.
What was disclosed is that the ‘inmates’ are only allowed about 12 hours each day inside of a space 5’ by 10’ with a double bunk bed inside, with barely enough space to stretch and they used a shared bathroom that serves dozens.
Two persons share a unit space—they interchange in 12-hour rotations since the mining camp operation goes on 24×7.
There is also a 21:00hrs (9PM) curfew for those that are ‘confined to quarters’.
The company boasted about its recreational facility—an area aback of a building where an old ‘rice bag’ hangs with some sand as a presumable punching bag and some gym gear exposed to the elements.
MOUNTAINS OF GOLD
Kaieteur News had run a critical article against the company which illustrated that the company continues to benefit from billions of dollars in tax waivers despite meeting its production targets.
Its response—buried away in a sea of text—was to say yes, despite getting the concessions, never meeting its production targets simply meant its assumptions about how much it could produce were wrong.
The company also claims to have invested US$180M in Guyana but did not accept that US$100M of this had nothing to do with actual cash investments into the country, rather, in involved transactions on paper with bonds and other instruments with the previous stakeholders with rights to the mining concession.
The remainder went to putting in a massive plant that has been crushing away with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes of ore per day—24×7. Moving mountains, as can be seen illustrated when viewed the air, the cavernous openings left in the jungle where mountains filled with gold dust once stood.
Workers complain bitterly of the slave like treatment of their Spanish-speaking superiors and are often told to pack up and leave, if it is, they don’t like the job.
For those who have been laid off—whatever the numbers—Christmas will certainly be tainted with memories of what it is to have lived and died at Troy.
Weeks after the death of the geologist who would have perished at the site, the officials were still in talks with the mother of his three children and his mother but nothing was paid by way of compensation.
In fact, the company has in fact already commenced further clearing and exploration activities just feet away from where Taylor died with a promise to restart its operations in full, sometime in the future.
What is clear, nobody walks away from a mountain of gold, much less mountains, especially when sweeteners like tax concessions are thrown into the mix.

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