A project aimed at demonstrating to gold and diamond miners how to meet their obligations for rehabilitation of mined-out areas is progressing satisfactorily in Region 8 (Potaro/Siparuni). Hundreds of acacia trees, planted in a mined-out area at Mahdia, are growing vigorously and officials of the Guyana Environmental Management and Capacity Development project (GENCAPD) last weekend said that they were satisfied that the project is well on the way to becoming a model for its intended purpose.
The re-vegetation exercise is being done by GENCAPD in collaboration with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and is one aspect of a programme being funded by the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) aimed at building the environmental management capacity of the mineral industry in Guyana.
“We are moving from green to gold and back to green in this area,” Project Manager Mortimer Livan disclosed after a fly-over of the site at St. Elizabeth, Mahdia on Saturday last, adding: “It’s in keeping with the principle that those who exploit mineral resources are obligated to reclaim the degraded environment. It’s not difficult. It can be done.”
Livan was accompanied by Richard Couture, head of the GENCAPD, and staffer of the Canadian Centre for Minerals and Energy Technology (CANMET), the division of Natural Resources Canada, which provides technical assistance and manages the project.
Discussing the Mahdia project, Livan disclosed that the site comprised a former tailings pond and a tailings dump for a mined-out piece of land at St. Elizabeth, Mahdia.
Trees supplied by a GGMC-operated nursery at Mahdia had been planted late last year.
The planters had been residents of Mahdia, contracted for the purpose, and supervision, management and monitoring is currently being done by interns, students of the University of Guyana and miners who have operations near to the site.
The acacia tree is well known for its rapid growth and known ability to enrich the soil with atmospheric nitrogen thereby permitting the planting of more demanding food crops.
The area at St. Elizabeth is to be fully reforested by early next year and the findings and observations taken from this process will be made available to all stakeholders in the mining industry, Livan said.
Livan disclosed that a similar GENCAPD tree planting and re-vegetation project is planned for establishment in Region 1 (Barima/Waini) with similar objectives.
“We aim, overall, to establish up to about ten thousand trees in mined-out areas. The project will assist miners with the technology and the expertise. The examples will be there for them to follow,” Livan said.
He added: “The results of the model project at St. Elizabeth to date are very satisfactory. The area should be fully restored within six months.”
The re-vegetation /restoration of selected mined-out sites for demonstration purposes is one of a number of GENCAPD projects on behalf of the GGMC and a number of other Government agencies currently ongoing.
They include:
* reduction of malaria occurrence using certain forms of bacteria
* A feasibility study on cyanide gold leaching by small and medium-scale miners
* sanitation in mining camps
* 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 among others.
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.