By Shauna Jemmott

A MINER within the Cuyuni mining district has complained that drums of diesel which he had purchased along the Essequibo River tributary have been confiscated by individuals who claimed that they are representatives of the Guyana Energy Agency, leaving him to suffer a tremendous financial loss.The miner, who prefers anonymity, said last week he had travelled out of the Fish Creek mining area when he received a telephone call informing him that the GEA along with Guyana Police Force ranks had visited his camp and confiscated thirty drums of fuel, claiming that they did some testing and discovered that the fuel was illegally obtained.
He told Guyana Chronicle that while the police and the GEA officers had the right to do their job, his mining business has suffered tremendous setbacks and financial loss of over $3.8 million.
“They confiscated 30 drums of diesel and then dictated that we had to transport the diesel for them.” The miner said he has a joint operation with another miner whose excavator was used to transport the drums of diesel to the landing a mile away.
He explained that they usually would travel to Bartica to purchase diesel and then transport the fuel by boat or truck. However, the Cuyuni River is low because of the dry season and has been shut off from boat travel from Bartica.
“When the river is dry they have people who have trucks and boats who would buy diesel and carry up to Waimu Landing, further up the Cuyuni River, but through a different route on the other side of the river. The diesel would then be shuttled by boats for sale to different mining communities along the river.”

SMUGGLED DIESEL
“They (GEA and police) came in and said the diesel was illegal diesel from Venezuela. We have no way of knowing where this diesel come from, because it’s not, per se, a Spanish guy come and sell you diesel; is Guyanese people coming on cargo boat and they selling diesel,” he pointed out.
He said for over ten days, boats had not travelled in the area from Bartica because “the river shut down,” and it is far more expensive for them to travel to Bartica, purchase diesel there, and charter a truck to transport it.
“You gatto look at the fact that your operations will cease, because you gatto go out and then come back in,” he explained. He added, “A charter with a truck from Bartica to where we are is $600,000 and that is twenty drum. So when you do the maths to bring twenty drums from Bartica plus $600,000 for the charter, and they (diesel boats) come with $60,000 a drum, you better off getting your fuel right there.” The miner stated that at Bartica they pay at least $36,500 per drum of fuel. The seizing of the fuel, he noted, happened at a time when his camp had not so long started working again after the year-end holiday break.
“Mind you, it’s the beginning of the mining season for the new calendar year and at this point they just left us stranded, can’t work. It’s just bullyism in full extent because you confiscate my product and then you’re forcing me to then help you to take it away.”
“We gatto work! With this here now, the operation is at a standstill,” the distraught man told the Guyana Chronicle.
Meanwhile, efforts by this newspaper yesterday to contact GEA Chief Executive Officer Mahender Sharma for a comment on the issue proved futile.