THE Ministry of Natural Resources will be hosting a stakeholder engagement with members of the mining community today to deal with concerns recently raised by miners about the state of the industry and the means through which these will be satisfactorily addressed by all sides.

The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA), the Guyana Women Miners’ Organisation (GWMO) and the National Mining Syndicate, representing mining syndicates from across the country, have been invited to the stakeholder engagement.
This stakeholder engagement is part of the Ministry of Natural Resources ongoing efforts at public consultation and outreach on a number of natural resources-related issues, the ministry said in a statement.

Only recently, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman speaking at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Annual Awards ceremony, told the gathering that the administration is unveiling carefully and methodically, the Syndicates initiative that is being spearheaded by Minister Simona Broomes. He explained that through this initiative, hundreds of Guyanese men and women who were either denied access to lands or came under the harsh conditions of a “landlord,” can now band together in a cooperative way and access lands and the synergies and economies that evolve from working together.

Trotman said so far 15 syndicates will be given in the first instance, 12,000 acres of land each to have a combined area of green Guyana land of 180,000 acres of land. “To put this into context, we are speaking of 281 square miles. Barbados, a place we are all familiar with, is just 170 square miles. So again, with some momentary surprise, I wonder at the agitation of the syndicates for more land when they have not yet begun to mine any lands. I am assured that GGMC is working assiduously to ensure that by the end of the month, the lands will be available for distribution and I am awaiting the opportunity to sign the “special order” to this effect.”

Members of the various syndicates had staged a protest recently in Georgetown, clamouring for more lands. However, Trotman said struggle is good as it is out of the dialectics of struggle that positive change comes, but struggle must be purposeful and well directed. He said struggle for the sake of struggle is without a lasting foundation. “Once we are satisfied that the syndicates have been good stewards, then we are prepared to entertain applications for additional lands,” the minister asserted.

Trotman also acknowledged that there is agitation and restlessness in the sector with some bemoaning the state of mining and government’s response to their concerns. Also, he said government has embarked on a quest to make Guyana a green land in both the figurative and literal senses. “To this end, the Government appreciates that there are some changes that are taking place in the mining industry – some changes we recognise as being organic by nature and some others will have to be influenced if the industry is to remain vibrant, well into the 21st century.”

The minister said there was a time, for many centuries in fact, when sugar production dominated the political economy of Guyana. It defined us as a nation, and then, in the 1970s and beyond, as we took hold of our newly found republican status, and forged a path of self-reliance, bauxite mining and production took centre stage. “Later came gold and gold remains Guyana’s primary foreign exchange earner and is singularly responsible for the direct and indirect employment of tens of thousands of Guyanese, though agriculture and bauxite remain viable industries in their own right.”

Trotman told the miners that the coming petroleum production will undoubtedly change the face of Guyana, and the mining industry as we know it, will be impacted. However, he said gold is too important to the culture, psyche and economy of Guyana to be displaced and as the saying goes, it is “too big to fail.” “Many of the fears and concerns that I hear expressed about government’s lack of appreciation for the industry are therefore unfounded. This government, as I have said on countless occasions in the past, has no desire to see the industry fail.

However, we all have agreed in private meetings, and in public outings elsewhere, that there has to be change and adjustments on all sides. The status quo cannot remain. For Government’s part, we are, as of necessity, having to streamline the collection of taxes and curtail what was obviously an abuse of the tax concessions that were given.”