Hope for Albouystown youths — residents look to mining to tackle youth unemployment
Members of the True Vision Foundation from Albouystown. From left to right: Founder of True Vision Foundation Chairman, Randolph Thorne, Arlene Khan, Leon Adams (small miner), Dexter Hatton, and Benjamin Mascoll
Members of the True Vision Foundation from Albouystown. From left to right: Founder of True Vision Foundation Chairman, Randolph Thorne, Arlene Khan, Leon Adams (small miner), Dexter Hatton, and Benjamin Mascoll

APPROXIMATELY three years after their application for two blocks of mining lands were rejected by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) residents of Albouystown are forging ahead with their plans.“We applied for two blocks in 2014 and after a royal run around, we were told to return and collect our monies,” Randolph Thorne, Chairman and Founder of the True Vision Foundation told Guyana Chronicle.
True Vision Foundation, a not for profit organisation, was established in 1995 with the aim of creating employment opportunities primarily for young and vulnerable youths within the community of Albouystown.
Cognisant of the fact that many of the young people in the community were faced with the issue of unemployment, the foundation in 2014 applied for two blocks of mining lands in Buck Hall in the Essequibo Islands, West Demerara region with the hope of creating much needed employment.
However, its vision of entering the lucrative industry was met with a stumbling block, when the foundation received a letter from GGMC indicating that its application was rejected and a refund for the $70, 000 paid will be made available.
Three years after, Thorne said he is happy that all hopes have not been lost. He said when the foundation heard of the Natural Resources Ministry’s announcement that mining syndicates will be given special preferences; it knew that now is the opportune time to reapply for mining lands.
Currently, the foundation is in the processing of forming a sub-organisation: the True Vision Foundation Syndicate in an effort to fulfil the requirements stipulated by the Natural Resources Ministry and GGMC.
“So far, we have nine interested persons, and instead of two blocks we will be applying for eight blocks this time around – six blocks in Puruni and two blocks in Karrau,” Thorne told this newspaper.
A confident Thorne said when the application is approved; the syndicate will begin operation soonest, noting that it has a donor on board who will be financing the initial stage of the operation.
FIXED SOURCE OF INCOME
“I see it (mining) as an advantage for the unemployed youths in Albouystown,” he posited, noting that once employment opportunities are made available to them, they will have a fixed source of income, and as such would be able to provide for their families.
A very outspoken Dexter Hatton told this newspaper that the syndicate will provided much needed employment for the youths of Albouystown.
“It will help them to get rid of the get rich syndrome whereby they will now be employed gainfully, earning their own money,” Hatton posited.
He said too that the syndicate will also provide an opportunity for residents to raise their standards of living.
Hatton said too that Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, ought to be applauded for reaching out to small and potential miners who have been experiencing many challenges within the industry, contending that the National Syndicate Project is an excellent initiative.
Leon Adams, 48, said he had to down his equipment and return to Albouystown because there was “no land to work.”
“I had a four inch dredge and I had to cut it down because we didn’t have land to work,” he told the Guyana Chronicle.
With his experience in the field of mining, Adams said he was encouraged by Thorne to be a member of the syndicate. Optimistic about the future, Adams said once all goes well he will be able to put his dredge back into operation.
Arlene Khan and Benjamin Mascoll, two other members of the True Vision Foundation expressed similar sentiments, saying that bright days are head for the people of Albouystown.
Thorne and his team were among small and potential miners who had attended a meeting with Minister Broomes at the Natural Resources Ministry on Friday to discuss the National Syndicate Project.

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