…but there will have to be some changes
HEAD of State President Bharrat Jagdeo has dispelled rumours concerning the mining sector, and has made it clear that the Government is prepared to work with the sector, “but there will have to be some changes.”

He was referring to recent issues surrounding the mining sector, at a press conference yesterday at the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.

He noted that at the launch of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), he had made it clear that “mining will continue in Guyana, and the Government has no interest, whatsoever, in closing the mining sector.”

He insisted that mining will continue to contribute to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

However, he reminded, “I made it clear at that time that there would have to be changes. Changes that had already been discussed with the sector long before the LCDS was developed and launched.”

“And sometimes, we miss that point. Many people think that the changes we are asking for today, that they are induced by the LCDS. Much of those changes were already being discussed with the sector, for many years,” he stressed.

He said that discussions included the phasing out of the use of mercury, as it is dangerous to health, noting, “And many countries have done so; in fact the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) was working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a programme to do this, and that programme predated the LCDS.”

Additionally, he said it was argued long before the LCDS that there will have to be some Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between people who hold forest leases and those who have license for sub-surface.

“Even before the LCDS was launched, we were sending teams out to learn from other countries how, after the mining is completed, they restore the landscape so that you don’t leave gaping wounds in our forests,” he further explained.

He said these were areas that were discussed prior to the LCDS, and even when he met with the mining community, a number of people, particularly the smaller miners asked when “are we going back to prospecting before mining”.

“Because they argued that the people who are more wealthy, they can afford the excavators so they would go into a mining area, cut down the trees, and rather than prospect before mining, they just proceed to dig up as much of the place as possible.”

“So even from the sector itself, it was recognised that this was done in the past, and we needed to get back to this,’ President Jagdeo reiterated.

“So these are the four things that we are asking for – by no way out of line with international practices, but that would help to ensure that mining remains as an activity for hundreds of years to come,” he stated.

However, he noted that there are a few people who ‘feel that the mineral wealth belongs to them individually, not to the country’.

“It belongs to the country, all of the people, the 750,000 of us who live here, and they have to ensure that it is mined sustainably,” he maintained.

He said there is much misinformation, “…they are telling them the Government wants to stop mining, to regulate them out of mining because they don’t want to comply with some of these areas.”

“We could have easily done this, unilaterally, as is done in many other countries,” the Head of State underlined.

“I have met with them, at least the miners, who declare more than 60 per cent of the gold, and I said to them, we will work with you in a collaborative fashion. I set up a committee chaired by Robeson Benn to do this,” he reminded.

“I am making it clear that we are moving forward. We can work in collaboration with the mining sector, and the serious people in the sector; but if they think that by funding small protest action, they are going to detour us from this track – they are wrong,” he exhorted.

He asserted, “So let me say this clearly, that we are prepared to work with the sector; that the rumours that the Government wants to shut down mining are just that, rumours; but there would have to be some changes – changes that would allow us to maintain our forest and earn more, but would allow the miners to still make a decent, healthy, profitable living.”

“And we have to do this together, but if we can’t do it together, then we will have to go forward with this matter alone”, the President concluded.