Chinese company disregards ‘no dumping’ sign

Sep 04, 2022 News

– resumes storing manganese around farmer’s home

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – The Chinese-owned manganese company operating in Matthews Ridge, North West District, Region One has reportedly disregarded a ‘no dumping’ sign and has resumed dumping piles of manganese around a farmer’s home at Oronoque, Port Kaituma.

The ‘No Dumping’ sign lying on the ground

A frustrated Peter Daniels standing on a pile of manganese with his house in the background.

Eight months ago residents of Port Kaituma had accused the company, Guyana Manganese Inc. (GMI), a 100 percent owned Chinese company, of destroying their livelihood. Peter Daniels, a 52-year-old farmer of Oronoque, had related to this publication how he’d suffered as result of the company’s operation.

He had told this newspaper that he was living peacefully for four years with his five children and wife at his farm in Oronoque but this was disrupted on March 10, 2021 when the company started storing manganese on his property.

Within a matter of weeks, the man said that his farm house was surrounded by a high hill of manganese and it began affecting his family’s health and destroyed his farm.

Daniels said that even after complaining bitterly he received no help from the Local Government authorities in Port Kaituma. As a last resort, the man decided to record a video, which he posted to social media, explaining how the Chinese company was destroying his only source of income.

Seven days after Kaieteur News had reported his story, the company started removing the manganese from around his home.

The man said he was happy that the mineral was being removed. But his bliss was short-lived because a few months later the company returned to its old ways, this time reportedly disregarding a ‘no dumping’ sign that was erected by Oronoque community members some time back.

Piles of manganese on Peter Daniels’ farmland and surrounding his home

In photographs seen by this publication, the ‘no dumping’ sign is seen lying on the ground partially covered with manganese.

When Daniels had first raised the issue, the manganese piles had only surrounded his home and farm, however, since the company resumed operation, even his farm is being used to store manganese making it impossible for him to farm in order to sustain his family.

The health condition of his family has reportedly gotten worse too.

According to the man, his children have “coughs and itches on their skin” which he believes is a result of the company’s operation.

With his family’s health deteriorating and is farm lands totally destroyed, the man said that he is once again seeking help from the relevant authorities.

Daniels had previously said that he has no problem if the company dumps its manganese on his property but on the condition that he is relocated and compensated for his lost.

With the resumption of the manganese dumping around his home, a request was sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate Daniels’ concern.

GMI extracts manganese from its mining pits at Matthews Ridge, a community located some 47km away from Kaituma but, this publication understands that it can only ship out the mineral from the port at Port Kaituma.

The company has been storing its manganese for shipment at Oronoque and had reportedly exported its first shipment out of Guyana in March this year.

To date Guyanese are in the dark about the contract signed between Guyana and the company for the manganese and the country’s earnings from the mineral resource.

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