IN her latest offering, Janette Bulkan seems to be on the side of the bigger players in the mining sector by suggesting mining reserves should be set up in Guyana.
She recommends that such mining reserves be exempt from conditions agreed in the Guyana-Norway Memorandum of Understanding but this is a short-sighted approach that does not take account of the bigger picture.
Why should mining be limited to small reserves and opportunities in other areas given up?
Miners should be very wary of people like Bulkan who want to confine them to reserves’ when the entire country should be open to use in forestry, mining and agriculture.
Bulkan has come up with a clearly ludicrous position and I wonder if she is firmly against mining which is a key economic activity and should not be limited to reserves.
President Bharrat Jagdeo has said that the entire country should be open for mining, forestry and agriculture. A main issue, however, is how the sectors are run and there should be close checks on practices to guard against environmental degradation.
Almost all Guyanese agree that these sectors need to be developed and backward thinking like this would only stymie development of mining and other areas.
Is Bulkan advocating shutting out small miners and leaving the field open to the larger mining interests?