— Luncheon
BIGGER players in the mining sector are using small miners as pawns in organised protests against planned reforms in practices and operations to try to preserve their own narrow interests, the government maintained yesterday.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, declared that the government was “unashamedly proud” of what it has done since it assumed office in October 1992 to elevate the sector as a major plank in the economy and said it is too big an industry to be threatened or challenged.

Some in the sector plan protests, purportedly on behalf of small miners, in the mining town of Bartica from Monday against the proposed introduction of a six-month waiting period before mining can begin, but Luncheon said the government was determined to correct the false impressions being created.

He bluntly stated at his regular post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President complex that the small miners are being used and that they are being confused about the government’s plans.

Small miners “are literally being used as shock troopers by hidden interests to defend their particular interests and beliefs”, he said, adding that the government was committed to the growth and development of the mining sector.

“…what we intend to introduce is not a threat to the sector and we will continue to be open to discussions and consultations to that effect”, he assured.

“We will continue to negotiate…consult…exert the efforts needed to correct impressions that are being created falsely among (small miners)”, he said.

Luncheon argued that because of the distortions being peddled, small operators in the sector lose sight of the big picture.

He suggested that the energy the protest organisers are spending on “mobilising and running around” should go towards a constructive dialogue among stakeholders “to get a better understanding of what is necessary and what is to come and to put in place the specific interventions and contingencies that are necessary to keep the mining industry on its upward trajectory.”

Luncheon noted that President Bharrat Jagdeo and the administration have stated that the mining industry is too big to be threatened or challenged.

“…we have not undertaken anything that jeopardises this industry where it is and its future growth. (The proposal) has to be taken in the context of what this administration has done over the years to get this industry to where it is”, he said.

He said the classification of miners as small, medium and large scale evolved from the government’s strategy in mining, adding “We are unashamedly proud and take all the plaudits for what the mining industry has become over the years”.

He recalled that the government intervened in many ways to help affected miners when world prices collapsed.

“We don’t have a problem, as some seem to be suggesting, that we have to declare and prove our bona fides. Half of those who are larking around today have been beneficiaries of government intervention”, he stated.

President Jagdeo at a press conference Tuesday again dispelled rumours that the government was moving to close the industry.

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

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.”

“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.

The President said the proposed changes, including the phasing out of the use of mercury, are in line with international practices and would help to ensure that mining remains as an activity for hundreds of years to come.

“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 declared.

“…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”, he said.