OVER the past few days miners and several other stakeholders in the sector have been attending public workshops organised by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), on Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

These workshops, titled ‘Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy and mining,’ seek to promote awareness of the objectives of the strategy.  

The process commenced on July 16 in Kurupung, Region Seven and continued throughout the period July 17 to 18, and 20 in Kwakwani, Region Ten, Arakaka, North West, Puruni Landing and Tamakay, Region Seven and Frenchman in Potaro, Region Eight.

The workshops continued yesterday in Itaballi and Imbaimadai in Region Seven and Linden, Region Ten. It culminates in Jawalla on Friday (July 24) and Marudi Mountain, Rupununi in Region Nine on July 30.

These communities comprised the six mining districts in Guyana that are targeted in the LCDS consultative process because of the dependence of the sector on the forests.

The interior locations in Guyana possess some 9.2 million ounces of gold deposits and other minerals that can be extracted with the right type of mining equipment and over the years the interest shown by investors for mining projects has been overwhelming.

The mining sector is just one of four traditional sectors to benefit from improvements, provided that the LCDS is successful. However, the strategy requires the support and alignment of all land use policies, most importantly forestry and mining.

In his outline of the strategy, President Jagdeo requested the Government of Norway, one of the strategy’s greatest patrons, to assess the current levels of deforestation and degradation in Guyana.

These assessments will support the further improvement in the forestry sector, particularly in mining, to create an overall integrated land use policy for Guyana.

The GGMC’s environmental policy in mining remains but has heightened with the introduction of the LCDS. The Commission has reinforced its environmental compliance exercise that seeks to determine the impact of turbidity levels of dredge and other mining practices in Amerindian titled and other mining communities.