Kaieteur miners charged
One of the claim receipts of George De Abreu
One of the claim receipts of George De Abreu

…GGMC insists no permission was given for mining operations

ALL of the miners who were arrested for mining illegally in the Kaieteur National Park area have been released, but will face court charges on July 18, 2017 at the Mahdia Magistrate’s Court, the Amerindian People Association said in a statement.
They have been charged with violating the Mining Act. The accused were summoned by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) on Tuesday, where they were told of the offence they committed. The individuals arrested and subsequently released are; Calixtus Francis, 47; Kenvil Cyril, 18; Donald Andrew, 48; Aladin Sebastian, 29; Garlon Andrew, 32; Clifford Andrew, 30; Leroy Fraser, 29; Collin Francisco, 27; Phillip Andrew, 18; Rudolph Bobb-Semple, 37; Franklin George, 38; Carlton Lewis, 40; Jason Baptiste, 30; Cecil Baptiste, 56; Bryan Mason, 31; Tomson Edwards, 17; Sabrina Dossantos, 26; Mark Andrew, 26; Carrol Williams, 22; and Clive Edwards, 20.

Meanwhile, at least one miner from Chenapau has produced four receipts which suggest that he made payments to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) for claims (lands) intended to facilitate mining activities in the Kaieteur Park area. According to one receipt seen by the Guyana Chronicle, George De Abreu paid the sum of $16,000 on January 5, 2017, for “renewal of 16 G&PS claims namely ‘Sparkle, Sparkle #1-#4, Cash, Cash #1-#4, Troy, Troy #1-#5, located on September 7, 2016”. The most recent payment was made on May 15, 2017, and all payment receipts were stamped by GGMC.

But Commissioner of GGMC, Newell Dennison has since clarified that a payment receipt does not give an individual the right to mine on lands, and it is only a mining permit or license which could empower individuals to legally conduct mining activities. Noting that he has not seen the receipts, which were provided by Indigenous Rights Activist, Michael Mc Garrell, the Commissioner said that those in no way could have translated to requests being granted by GGMC for those individuals to mine in any area, moreso KNP.

Dennisson further explained that when money is paid for a claim (land), a verification and research process is then conducted to ascertain whether the area is available and if it reaches the specifications for mining. He said that only after all these requirements are satisfied would a permit or license be issued for mining to be conducted in that identified area. However, he was keen to note that no payment receipt could have been given for any area in KNP, since it is a protected area. The receipts seen by this publication do not indicate which area/s were paid for. As such, the Commissioner contended that those individuals could not have been expecting a permit or license to mine in that area, since it would have been against the law to grant same.

Section 4 of the Kaieteur National Park Act states, “It shall not be lawful for any person to enter into, travel or encamp within the park or to build any structure therein, or to hunt, chase, catch, shoot at, kill or otherwise disturb any animal or cut, pluck or gather any of the flora or interfere with or disturb he soil by mining or other operations within the park or to remove anything whatsoever from the park except in accordance with regulations made under this act. (2) Any person acting in contravention of any of the provisions of subsection (1) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of ninety-seven thousand five hundred dollars, and anything taken by such person from the park shall be forfeited.”

According to the regulations made under the Mining Act 2005, Part XXVII Section 251 (1) (a), “No person shall conduct mining and quarrying activities in the following areas- (b) In specified nature reserves and parks where resource extraction is prohibited; (c) In buffer areas without express approval of the Commission and the notification of parties likely to be affected by the activity.”

Meanwhile, Toshao of Chenapau, Edward Mc Garrell, has defended the miners, arguing that there is no clear boundary of the KNP. Michael Mc Garrell also weighed in, offering that miners were nowhere close to the sign which indicates where the National Park is. But the GGMC commissioner when questioned about this, maintained that to the best of his knowledge, no mining activity is to be permitted in the Park, and he finds it hard to believe that GGMC officials and the police would arrest individuals who were not mining in the area.

After government moved to have the alleged illegal mining halted on Sunday, relatives of the arrested miners staged a protest on Monday, calling for the government to allow those persons to ply their trade since it is the only means of income for many families. Of the five mines discovered on Sunday, three had already been issued cease orders by GGMC in 2014 with reinforcement actions as recent as 2016.

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