Dear Editor,

I AM a concerned gold miner from Bartica, who has a work force of over forty (40) persons currently. I am writing to highlight a situation that is happening with a pontoon that sank in the channel of the Mazaruni River.Approximately three months ago, a ‘draga’, as this pontoon is called by the owner of Crown Mining supplies, ran aground just at the top of the Piremap Falls in the Mazaruni River.
Initially it was out of the channel, but after efforts were made by Crown Mining Supplies to remove it from its position, it shifted into the channel. That is when the problem started! The Crown Mining Company just left it there for weeks at a time, and then would make a half-hearted effort to salvage it, before once again retreating and not being seen for a while.

All the time, workers and supply boats that work for, and service, over fifty mining operations located above the falls had to use whatever means they could to gain access to their mining camps — which includes manually fetching supplies over rocky and dangerous terrain, and in some cases in waist deep water, just to survive.

I am concerned about the non-action by this company, which seems to be above the law, as they daily continue to totally disregard the inconvenience that their sloppiness has caused to so many miners.

Let me also mention that the operations of the two jet boat services that ply the locations have been completely halted, putting almost sixty workers out of work and causing secondary school children who normally use the jet boat service to be stuck at their school at Bartica.

I call on the relevant authorities: the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Education, the Maritime Administration, and even the Ministry of Health, to please do something. If, God forbid, we should get some sort of medical emergency, what would we do?

One suspects that because the main principal of Crown Mining Supplies is a national sportsman and carries a lot of clout in Government and the mining associations, he is being allowed to do as he feels. Once again, I do hope this situation would be looked at urgently by the relevant authorities.

Regards,
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