Govt. tears-up Hicken, Brutus sand mining applications

Mar 08, 2024 News

Acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, Acting Deputy Commissioner, Calvin Brutus and Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

…says no new permits at this time on Linden Highway

Kaieteur News – “It’s not going to happen,” Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday stated as he explained that the application by Acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken and Acting Deputy Commissioner Calvin Brutus will not be granted to conduct sand mining operations on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

On Tuesday, Kaieteur News reported that Hicken and Brutus have each secured 11.7 acres of land for their respective sand mining projects in Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke/Linden Highway and have submitted their applications to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for permission to proceed with their operations.

The project summaries were published on the EPA’s website since February 26, 2024. However, Jagdeo on Thursday disclosed that the government has made the decision to stop issuing sandpit mining permits. “Let me make it clear that the Government of Guyana on the highway has put a hold on all the sandpits…we are trying to get large tracts of land to do the Silica City on the highway so we want the land for public use, housing and development of new towns along the highway etcetera, so we can’t only give out (land).”

The document published by the EPA states that Hicken and Brutus acquired from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Mining Permit for the purpose of extracting on commercial scale quarry sand. The primary objective of both projects is to extract quarry sand on a commercial scale, with an anticipated production target of 76,000 tons annually over a period of 10 years.

Notably, the Vice President said the government is aware of sandpit operators who were jacking up the price of sand. To combat this, he explained that the government had opened some public sandpits areas and intends to open some more to ensure that the price for sand remains reasonable.

Jagdeo explained that the government has received over 200 applications for sandpits. He noted, “Because it’s a lucrative thing now the sand prices have gone up, and a lot of people who have these sandpits they even undermine…they come close to the road they do all sorts of thing.” “So we are not giving permission for no sandpits at this time,” he added.

Jagdeo noted that while EPA has published a notice in relation to the sandpits for Hicken and Brutus – he underscored that the Government’s position is clear and that the applications will not be granted. “It’s not going to happen…Now they may have the land for agriculture use, that is what people have land for but not for the purpose of mining sand, we have to have a strategy that brings down the price (of sand),” the Vice President noted.

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Bharrat Jagdeo, Calvin Brutus, Clifton Hicken, Mining, sand

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