–  94 foreign miners found breaching mining, environment and/or immigration laws–
illegal firearm found, raw gold seized
THE Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment’s Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) will continue to enforce the Mining Regulations to reduce illegal mining and other illicit activities within the sector. High Level teams from Guyana and Brazil meeting on illegal mining activities. Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Hon. Robert Persaud; Chairman of the Board of Directors of GGMC, Major General (rtd), Joseph Singh and other senior officers of the Government recently met with a high level delegation from the State of Roraima, Brazil following the detention of scores of illegal Brazilians miners and part of the recently launched ‘Operation El Dorado’ to combat widespread illegal mining.
Minister Persaud pointed out that the operation is intended to target illegal mining and other unregulated mining activities, according to a statement yesterday from his ministry. He advised the meeting, held last Friday, that a large number of Brazilians were caught engaging in illegal mining activities.
However, the visit of the high level team is welcomed to examine a joint effort to ensure Brazilian miners are registered and engaged in sustainable mining activities and comply with national laws.
Minister Persaud alluded to the fact that the Government of Guyana values the friendship of its southern neighbour and the investments made by Brazilians in Guyana. The team, which included Mr. Francisco Xingu, President of Commission Assembly Legislative Roraima of Human Rights; Mr. Francisco de Sales Guerra Neto, President Assembly Legislative of Roraima State; Mr. Cornel Chagas, Member of Public Service & Security, and Ms. Leila King, Guyana Consul General to Boa Vista agreed to work closely with the Government of Guyana and the Brazilian Embassy to provide necessary support to Brazilians to regularize their activities. In order to adequately regulate the sector, the Government of Guyana during 10th – 15th April 2012, embarked on a campaign ‘Operation El Dorado’ to stop illegal mining and related activities in the Puruni area, Region 7.
The operation involved inspection of mining camps and operations to determine the status of the property being worked, verification of mining privileges and certificate of registration for persons employed, inspection of the requisite documentations, including dredge licences and production books, sanitation, environmental and occupational health and safety compliance.
Also, the Guyana Police Force’s TSU team checked for guns, ammunition and drugs, while an immigration team checked the status of foreign workers.

The operation resulted in the detention of a total of 94 foreign miners breaching the mining, environment and/or immigration laws.
In most cases, these workers had no work-permits, no certificate of registration and in some cases even expired visas. In addition, 32 local miners breached the mining regulations.
Additionally, the ministry said two river based operations breached the Cease Work Orders and continued working the river banks which is prohibited according to the mining regulations, while gold production records were incomplete and in some cases non-existent.
The ministry also reported that mining on prospecting Permit and Prospecting Licence property occurred contrary to the regulations. The operation also found mining on the prohibited river bank buffer zones, while the Guyana Police Force discovered an illegal firearm. A quantity of raw gold that was illegally obtained was seized.
The GGMC is being supported by the Guyana Police Force in the ongoing ‘Operation El Dorado’. Further, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) has been urging the authorities to step up its campaign on illegal mining.