Misconceptions about mining…
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo said Thursday that the blame for misconceptions about an impending six months notice in mining regulations, one of several recommendations proposed by the Special Land Use Committee (SLUC), must be laid squarely on “silly newspaper articles and ads.” The Committee was set up by the Head of State to regularise the mining industry but it was a result of the fear created by the misguided statements that protests were mounted and the situation has also been creating “unnecessary grief,” he told the meeting he convened at Guyana International Conference Centre, (GICC), Liliendaal.
President Jagdeo said the fear that was generated within the miners was understandable, as some of them, who were in earlier discussions with him, admitted being misled into believing that the Government was about to tamper with their livelihood by shutting down their operations.
It was their belief that their enterprise would have to be closed for six months until they are given approval to continue work.
But the specific recommendation by the SLUC, chaired by Transport and Hydraulics Minister Robeson Benn, takes effect April 1, when operators in the industry will be required to give notice of all ongoing mining and the locations, as well as details of machinery in use.
The new stipulation will not prohibit dredging but would be used as a measure to strike an equitable balance between loggers and miners and, where an overlapping of concessions between a logger and a miner exists, as of October 1, miners can commence mining within a three hectares area without prior permission.
Any work outside of the three hectares without previous approval will be deemed illegal.
Also, should a miner want to move operations into an area where the holder of the rights is a logger, the former will be duty bound to notify the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
Then the logger will be informed of the miner’s intention and given one month to indicate his plans to commence logging the timber on the land.
Response
Should the logger’s response be in the affirmative, a six months period is tagged on the commencement operations, failing which the miner would be within the limits of the law to commence mining but not beyond a stipulated three hectares, while awaiting the permission.
In cases where the forests belong to the State, the three hectares rule would apply, as well, and GGMC will, within a month, seek permission from Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) to expand the mining operations.
Meanwhile, a suggestion at the forum, that GFC embarks on establishing a nursery for saplings to aid in the re-vegetation process, was commended by President Jagdeo.
The miner who put forward the proposal noted that several young trees are wasted after logging exercises are completed and proposed that they be placed in a nursery where they are nurtured and, subsequently, replanted to aid the growth of  new forests.
Such an approach, the miner said, is being used with success in Trinidad and Tobago.
Regularisation of this country’s mining industry is imperative in Guyana, which, recently, signed a US$250M deal with the Government of Norway as part of its efforts to avoid unnecessary forest degradation.