A PILOT project which demonstrates to small and medium-scale miners how they can carry out their activities without polluting nearby waterways, has been successfully completed.

The completed project is a Tailings Management System which ensures that liquid mining waste runs in a closed circuit, and is continuously recycled with a resultant zero discharge into the environment.

Officials at the primary tailings pond at White Hole last week: From left are: Mr Peter Hutson, Engineer attached to GENCAPD; Mr Derek Babb, Manager of the Mines Division of the GGMC; and Mr Richard Couture, Scientific Adviser of Natural Resources Canada  (CANMET).

Its location is at White Hole, an area in Mahdia in Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni), and it is being touted as a model project for miners in all other areas, so that they can operate in accordance with the stipulations  in the Mining (Amendment) Regulations of 2005.

The White Hole project comprises a dam at the base of the mining operations, and a division of the resulting tailings pond into two ponds, one primary and the other secondary.

The primary is designed in such a way that it drains into the secondary without depositing sediments into it.

The miner can then utilise the clear water in the secondary pond for his operations and so recommence the recycling process.

By this means, none of the slurry, which is the cause of the muddied state of many hinterland waterways, is allowed to escape.

The pollution of rivers and creeks is avoided, and many of these currently  messed-up waterways  will eventually be allowed to return to their former pristine state.

The completed project, dubbed the Dry Mining and Tailings Management Pilot Project, was unveiled last week by officials of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), and the Guyana Environmental Capacity Development Project (GENCAPD).

At the GGMC plant nursery at Mahdia: Seen here examining a seedling is Mr Mortimer Livan, who is in charge of replanting and rehabilitating a mined-out area at White Hole.

GENCAPD is a mining assistance programme for the Government and people of Guyana, which is being funded by the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The aim of this project is to build the environmental management capacity of mineral industry institutions in Guyana.

The Canadian Centre for Minerals and Energy Technology (CANMET), a division of Natural Resources Canada, provides technical and management assistance.

Eleven miners at White Hole benefited from the project, free of charge.

Officials from the GGMC and the GGDMA collaborated with GENCAPD towards its successful completion.

Present at the unveiling of the accomplishment at White Hole last week were Mr Richard Couture, Scientific Adviser of Natural Resources Canada (CANMET), the executing agency for CIDA projects.

Also there were Mr Derek Babb, Manager of the Mines Division of the GGMC; Mr Peter Hutson, an engineer attached to GENCAPD; Mr Ronald Glasgow, GGMC Senior Mines Engineer; Mr Carlos Todd, a Senior Environmental Officer I within the GGMC; and Mr Devon Agard, an environmental officer attached to the GGDMA.

Hutson did not deny that an operation such as the one they’re pushing “was fairly costly” and might be outside the means of many a miner, but he gave the assurance that GENCAPD was examining a number of ways in which it can be of further assistance to operatives in the sector.

What he suggests that miners do in the interim is focus on setting up a communal operation (mining close to each other), since in that way, they will be able to use one system and thus keep their costs down.

The pilot project also demonstrates the efficacy of dry mining, that is, mining by removing the top soil with the help of an excavator rather than doing so by way of hydraulicking, which involves the removal of the overburden with water jetted from high-pressure hoses.

The dry mining method promises a higher rate of gold recovery, and makes the rehabilitation of mined-out areas simpler, since it would be easier to refill the holes left after the site has been exhausted.

At the site, Mr Babb of the GGMC said that the model represented the minimum standard at  which miners would have to work if they wanted to continue  operations.

White Hole will also benefit from a second component of the GENCAPD programme.

This involves the rehabilitation of mined-out sites with the introduction of suitable plants and crops, and the replantation of trees with a view to stimulating agricultural and economic activities in these areas.

This aspect of the programme is yet to begin but its manager, Mr Mortimer Livan said his staffers will plant trees and other vegetation in the area, starting from some time within the next two weeks.

The Dry Mining and Tailings Management pilot project is one of a number of  GENCAPD projects currently ongoing or imminent.

Among those identified by Mr Couture were:

* A feasibility study on the use of  cyanide by small and medium-scale miners;

* a malaria reduction programme using certain forms of bacteria;

*  several small grants projects;

*  studies and advisories on diet for pregnant women in relation to mercury levels in mining or nearby communities; and

* the trapping and export of ornamental fish as an alternative or complementary economic activity to mining.

This GENCAPD programme, which is in the second phase of the Canadian assistance,  started in April 2007 and is projected to end in September 2010.