– GGMC urges miners to adhere to Dec 31 deadline to remove from ‘Bone Yard’ or face forcible eviction
THE Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC)  yesterday urged miners in the former Omai property in Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni)  known as ‘Bone Yard’ to adhere to a December 31  deadline for removal to another area identified for them. Commissioner (ag) GGMC Mrs. Karen Livan said: “We at the GGMC are urging these miners to adhere to the deadline. We will give them all the support necessary in this regard. Failing this and if they continue to remain on the property after December 31 we will have no alternative but to forcibly evict them.”
Giving the background for the pleas for cooperation, Mrs. Livan told a media conference yesterday afternoon that some twelve months ago these miners had been found illegally occupying and mining on the Omai property in an area called ‘Bone Yard’.
They were made to cease their operations.
She said shortly after, the miners formed themselves into the ‘Kumaka Syndicate’  and approached the GGMC seeking permission to mine at ‘Bone Yard’.
They were informed that the area was closed and that every effort would be made to find an alternative area.
The GGMC sent a geologist to the nearby area of North Kumaka to identify a suitable alternative ground but the miners did not consider this area to be of interest.
After this, the miners approached the Prime Minister  for permission to remain at ‘Bone Yard’.
The Prime Minister consented on compassionate grounds to extend permission  for three months ending August 13, 2011.
At the expiration of that deadline, they again  approached the Prime Minister  who then gave them  up to October 31st.
But at the end of the October 31st deadline, the miners again requested an extension for mining at ‘Bone Yard’ and they were again granted an extension – this one ending on December 31st.
Meanwhile, the GGGMC had cut boundary lines for 24 parcels of land in the Kaburi area at a cost of over three million dollars and allocated these by lottery to them as an alternative site.
Livan said: “A geologist took these miners to Kaburi to visit and test this area. All twenty four took part in this exercise.”
She said the GGMC had also advertised the former Omai lands for large scale mining and had approved of the Canadian Company,  Mahdia Gold Corporation being granted permission  to explore the lands and develop a mine if the results proved encouraging.
Mahdia Gold is now ready to occupy the land, hence the deadline for the miners at ‘Bone Yard’ to move out and take over the lands at Kaburi.
Yesterday, a number of these miners staged a picketing demonstration outside the GGMC saying that they wanted to remain at ‘Bone Yard’ because the area was a better one for mining than Kaburi.
They felt that there was not much gold at Kaburi.
Livan said she was not aware of what exploration methods they may have used at Kaburi in order to arrive at this conclusion.
She clarified that GGMC grants lands for mining without any assurance about the extent of the gold deposits they  may contain.
“The onus is on those who accept the lands to do the exploration and the development to see that the mining is a viable venture,” she said.
Many of the miners at ‘Bone Yard’ operate small suction dredges, while some are small scale and others use excavators.
Livan disclosed that GGMC staffers are now on the ground at ‘Bone Yard’ to facilitate and support those miners who cooperate and move.
These Staffers will seek the assistance of the police in the unfortunate event that a forcible eviction becomes necessary.
Their deadline for occupation expires at midnight Saturday night.