THERE was a time when journeying into the interior, traditionally called the “bush”, was an employment opportunity for earning large sums of money – big bucks!

Undertaken specifically by those of working class origin, it was both an adventure of a lifetime, for the many unknown challenges that awaited especially the first timers; and an opportunity for their dreams of riches to come true.

Thus, it is household, the stories about the many fortunes that were made and lost in Guyana’s goldfields, since human nature dictated the vision and purposes of those who ventured into the vast hinterland to seek their fortune.

But all will agree that those early decades of “digging for gold” in the ‘Backdam’, as the gold mining areas are popularly called, were free of the lawless and violent criminal behaviour, brutal murder, and the trenchant greed that is now an accepted hallmark of modern gold mining within recent years in Guyana.

It is true that over the last ten years, the local mining industry has undergone profound changes, with the catalyst being the rise in the price of gold. This would have occasioned an unprecedented flood of particularly coastlanders, mainly newcomers. There would have already been the seasoned and established miners, for whom the interior was their second home, because of their long years of prospecting. But within the influx of newcomers, came the added vicious, criminal category, whose brutal predatory acts have been responsible for the numerous murders and robberies that have become synonymous with gold mining.
It is undisputed that Guyana’s gold mining areas have now become places of death, where hardened criminals and even those not similarly disposed, cunningly plot, and decidedly attack, rob and kill those who are in possession of the yellow metal, whether at their places of business as in the recent case of the murdered businessman Linden Mc Almont at Mango Landing, Region Seven, or in mining camps, as in the case of the Higgins father and son duo, who both died in a cutlass and gun attack, in Konawaruk, in 2011.
The pattern of attacks are sustained, with camps also being attacked, robbed and persons murdered of both money and gold; even along the trails, with the murderers often ambushing and murdering their unsuspecting victims.
A disturbing feature has been the presence of young school drop outs, unprecedented in the early decades, without any knowledge/experience of gold mining; but, whose idea of quick riches, would have led them to become allies with seasoned criminals. Their only mission has been to murder and take away gold and cash from those who would have honestly braved all the challenges and dangers.
From the many reports surrounding these killings, these killers would have carried out their murderous assaults in collusion with employees/acquaintances of some of these camps, and even by employees themselves. Even foreign miners, seeking their fortunes have met their bloody end at the hands of these robbers/murderers.
But there are other aspects of this deadly mayhem that have become the daily culture of the gold mining areas, these past years, such as persons taking on the role of judge, jury, and executioner, such as in the savage death of Michael Morris, who, in an altercation, was alleged to have been tied to a tree and beaten to death in 2013; and Azad Potter, a mere teen of 17 years, also beaten to death for allegedly stealing gold, a few months ago. These are just two instances, of murders where ‘rough justice’ was meted out, without recourse to the law.
However, such types of killings add to the daily, growing list of the numerous murders committed in Guyana’s gold mining areas, many of which are still unsolved. Such grisly incidents have now become a daily reporting feature in the media.
Those long departed prospectors are definitely turning in their graves!