THE Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) has commenced a series of mine safety activities in the hinterland region. These activities aim to bring awareness to miners and mining managers of safety procedures that will lessen the probability of the occurrences of mining fatalities in their respective territorial boundary.
The intended beneficiaries are operating in areas where mining fatalities have occurred or they are susceptible to such incidents. These are Lower Cuyuni, Puruni (Lower Mazaruni), North West and Imbaimadai.
In addition to this exercise, the commission will commence training of field officers to equip miners with the necessary safety protocols that should be practised according to their unique territorial features.
This training will be carried out by a structural engineering firm that will focus on soil, groundwork, slope and earth mechanics so that there is an applied approach to the monitoring function.
According to the GGMC, several breaches of mining policies have been reported and since the miners claim that they were not aware of breaking safety procedures, measures are being put in place to edify them on these and if any future reports of non-compliance is made, operations will be halted with immediate effect.

“MARACK MAN”
One guideline that seems to be often broken is that of the “marack man” and other workers in the mining pit who must be positioned at a distance of at least 1 ½ times the height of the active mine face. This measure is to allow some reasonable factor of safety for such persons should the active mine face fail.
Failure to comply with this guideline has caused several mining fatalities over the past months. One of the most tragic occurred on May 18 where 10 miners were buried alive at Pepper Creek, Konawaruk. Prior to these mine safety procedures, injunctions were made against GGMC by the court barring them from enforcing regulations. This resulted in several mining tragedies.
Therefore, field officers were armed with Standard Operating Procedures in respect of Regulation 214, whereby a mines officer has the power to order work to cease if in his/her opinion the said work was being done in a manner that endangers life and limb according to GGMC.
In addition to these, miners were requested to have in their employ a safety officer to place signage on safety within their camps and to encourage a safety culture among workers.
The GGMC is cognisant of the increase in mining deaths in 2015 and are using these arrangements to minimise such tragedies by bringing awareness to everyone involved in the process of gold and diamond mining.