MINING Week celebrations will be held  between August  22 and 28 this year.
Special-issue stamps, an educational exhibition, the launching of an illustrated history of pork-knocking, and a fun-filled and “biggest ever” porknocker day will be some of the features of  the annual event, spearheaded by the  Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) .
In early notification on the celebrations this year,  Commissioner of the GGMC  Mr. William Woolford said at a media conference Friday that an exciting feature this year  is the involvement of Miner’s Committees from Port Kaituma, Bartica and Mahdia.
“The collaboration  of small and medium-scale miners has been extremely good, even the larger producers in the bauxite and uranium sectors, and we have all the  makings for  very fulfilling celebrations this year under the theme: ‘Mining our resources with our future in mind’.”
Head of GGMC’s Petroleum Division and Chairman of the Mining Week Committee, Mr. Newell Dennison outlined a programme that comprises a Mineral March, an exhibition and other features, including organized tours to mining areas, for the observances.
Among the main ones, he said, were: A Mineral Walk on Sunday, August 22 at  6:30am
from the Bank of Guyana on Avenue of the Republic, to the Girls Guide Pavilion on upper Brickdam;  the opening of the Exhibition at the Girl’s Guides Pavilion  and on the tarmac of Square of the Revolution the following day, August 23, at 3:00pm; the launching of the special-issue stamps and the Illustrated History of Pork-knocking; and the hosting of the annual Pork-knockers Day at Bartica.
“We are involving mining sector stakeholders to bring  awareness to the role of miners in Guyana; to bring awareness of the responsibilities miners have to shoulder in the quest for sustainable operations within the sector,” Dennison said.
The Exhibition at the Girl’s Guides Pavilion will run from 3:00pm until 8:00pm from August 23 to 27. The GGMC also plans to take some of the exhibits to mining communities in the North West District, at Mahdia and Bartica as a post-Mining Week activity to further enhance knowledge sharing,  development and celebration  of what Woolford described as a “very buoyant’ mining industry  at this time.
The special-issue stamps for the programme this year are being done by the  Guyana Post Office Corporation in collaboration with the GGMC.
Mr. Woolford said that there will be four stamps in all, with four different images.
“One will bear the image of a male pork-knocker at work, the other an image of renowned female pork-knocker,  Cyrilda De Jesus , another with an old map of Bartica, ‘the gateway to the interior’, and another bearing  an  image of gold nuggets and diamonds.”
Pork-knockers Day will be held on August 28 on the waterfront at Bartica at the Regatta Pavilion.
Woolford said that he has been informed that the Miner’s Committee at Bartica is working on a programme which will see the event this year as the biggest ever.
The  Pork-knockers Day programme will see the launching of local artist, Barrington Braithwaite’s book, ‘An illustrated history of pork-knocking’ , he said.
Dennison said that the formal GGMC  programme, including the date and time of the annual reception and the location of the tours, will be available within the weeks prior to the hosting of  Mining Week .