CLOSE to two years after an injunction was secured at the level of the High Court blocking her husband from accessing his mining claim in Tiger Creek, Lucillia Emanuel said her ailing husband is still waiting for the matter to be resolved.
The frustrated woman told the Guyana Chronicle that her husband has all the documentation to prove that the claim is his, and that he was working there legally.
The situation, Emanuel said, has crippled her family financially, since the mining claim was their only source of finance.
On Thursday, Emanuel, also known as “Lawa,” told the Guyana Chronicle that her husband, John Emanuel, along with another individual who is now deceased, had acquired four claims – Value, Value 1, Value 2 and Value 3 in Tiger Creek, Region 8 ( Potaro/Siparuni) in 1987.
The Saint Lucian-born woman, who moved to Guyana at the age of six and has been living in Mahdia for the past 56 years, said all was well until 2015.
“On 16th July, 2015, we had some people working our claim – Value 1 when a guy by the name of Mario Rodrigues, came and told my husband that it was his Block,” Emanuel recalled.
Rodrigues, who was at the time accompanied by two GGMC (Guyana Geology and Mines Commission) officers, insisted that the claim measuring 800 x 1500ft formed part of his block – Block 59 but Mr. Emanuel reportedly objected.
According to Emanuel, her husband acquired the claims in Tiger Creek 10 years before the block was established in the area. She said it was not long before Rodrigues filed a complaint that a cease work order was issued by the GGMC.
“We leave Mahdia on 28th July after receiving the cease work order from GGMC claiming that we were working Block 59.” Following its investigation, GGMC found that the claim was indeed that of Mr. Emanuel given that he had all the legal documents, and as such the cease order was rescinded. Emanuel was also issued with a mining license by GGMC in August 2016.
However, by August 5, 2015, Rodrigues had secured an injunction from the High Court preventing Mr. Emanuel from accessing his claim at Tiger Creek. A second injunction was filed on December 23, 2015, however, that one was discharged by Justice Roxanne George.
“The first injunction is still in place though. The last time we had a hearing was on the 16th November, 2016, and up to now we are still waiting,” said a frustrated Emanuel.
“My husband have all his receipts, I have my license. We have all of our documents, and we still can’t get this matter resolved, two years down the line,” she stressed.
Emanuel said on the other hand, Rodrigues has been pressuring them to make a settlement. “They are asking for a settlement. They want to purchase everything to work that land – Value 1 – and when they done, they take out their expense, and then divide it half and half and give my husband but we don’t want that. It is our claim. I am not on their block.”
Their inability to mine on the land has set them back financially, the mother of eight posited. “I have eight children and 21 grandchildren, and everybody suffering because they all work with me. My husband got a stroke plus he get sugar and pressure and could hardly walk,” she added.
“I don’t have nothing. Sometimes I would have to beg one of my good friends to get money to buy tablets for my husband,” Emanuel continued.