NATURAL Resources and the Environment Minister, Robert Persaud, has said that allegations of poor governance of the natural resources sector are misrepresentations aimed at damaging the livelihoods of people within the sector, and the general economic development of the country as a whole.

Speaking in apparent reference to allegations of Government mismanaging Bai Shan Lin, Minister Persaud said: “I challenge anyone who can say, over the past years, where we, the PPP/Civic Government, have, in any sector, including the natural resources sector, breached the laws of the country; where we have in any way sold out the rights of Guyanese, or not taken on board the interests of all the people of Guyana.”

He said: “I challenge anyone to produce the evidence.”

Speaking at the launch of Mining Week 2014, he said transparency, accountability and integrity have been the hallmarks of the Government, and it will continue to pursue same so that we can move this country forward, create a better country, and at the end of the day create a better natural resources sector for all stakeholders.

He said that developments in the mining sector in particular were cause for great optimism, since this industry has been able to survive volatility in prices, and had become much more resilient.

He said there has been greater interest in the sector, and greater enthusiasm among Guyanese and even non-Guyanese, who want to get involved and be part of the development of this industry.

The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), for example, had just held an auction for mining plots, after more than four years, with the intention of staging it for one day; but due to the interest generated, this auction had ended up becoming a five day event.

He said: “If people did not think that there was money to be made from mining, and if they did not think that it was good to be (into) mining, they would not have turned out in such large numbers to participate and to pay large sums through a public auction process.”

Lotteries for mining lands held in the six mining districts had attracted overwhelming public response, and every day the GGMC office is bombarded by requests from miners at different levels –small medium and large scale; for more access.

“That speaks to confidence. It directly speaks to people wanting to develop and wanting to grow the sector,” he posited.

On governance of the sector, he said the Ministry has sought, and succeeded over the past year, to encourage the development of sustainable and responsible mining. The Ministry had looked at how it could deepen compliance and enforcement for environmentally friendly mining, and at ways in which it could enhance the functioning of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the Environmental Division of the GGMC. Actions had included the staging of a number of training programmes and a number of stakeholder interactions to develop and encourage much more responsible and sustainable mining activities.

A programme with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) mainstreaming biodiversity in mining activities through which miners are encouraged to think about conservation and protection of the biodiversity had recently been concluded.

The Ministry had also worked with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) and mining communities in terms of enhancing social responsibility; in terms of dealing with issues such as trafficking in persons, and other illegal activities that sometimes takes place in mining communities.

“We have sought to encourage miners and the mining community to ensure that mining is done in a socially responsible way,” he said, adding that there are a number of other measures that the Ministry had undertaken since the last Mining Week 2013 to make miners much more resilient to some of the difficulties.

He stressed that Government would continue to give this type of support.

(By Clifford Stanley)