–mere days after being ejected by authorities

A MINER who operates several dredges in the waterways off the Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) village of Micobie, brazenly resumed operations last weekend, mere days after his machines were ejected from the area by the authorities.
Micobie, an Indigenous village on the outskirts of Mahdia, the region’s administrative capital, is home to approximately 550 residents. It has been battling with mining issues within the village’s 22 square miles of land for months.
The village council believes it is “powerless” where the lands on its reservation are concerned, and with good reason, since it was only recently that it learned that the mining authorities had green-lighted some 305 mining claims there, which figure the council says translates to more than three-quarters of the total lands occupied by the settlement.
Toshao of Micobie, John Andre and members of the village council met with the Guyana Chronicle over the weekend in the village, which lies on the edges of the Potaro River.
According to the leader, a meeting was called by a delegation of environmental bodies which travelled from the Coastland last week to Micobie. The group, which included officials of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and personnel from non-governmental support agencies, met with Andre and discussed the issue.
Andre said he believes the reason the delegation travelled all that way to meet with him was because he had raised the concerns the village had with the way things were done at Micobie at the recent National Toshaos Council (NTC) annual conference in Georgetown. At the confab, Andre highlighted the numerous mining issues faced by the Patamona village, and according to him, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman was very responsive to his concerns.
He said that after the Georgetown-based miner’s equipment, which included five “dragga” machines, were ejected from the area by the mining delegation last week, the man’s employees on the ground blatantly disregarded the authority’s decision and returned to the Potaro River, which passes close to the village.
Andre showed this publication two of the machines which were being operated down-river from the village. The “dragga” machines were operating on a bend within the river under the hot midday sun.

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NO MINING ZONE
The village council explained that there is a buffer zone which lies between the lowest point on the edges of the Potaro River and stretches 65 feet inland. The zone, they say, belongs to the State, and as such no one is permitted to mine there.
“Neither us or the claim holder has rights for the area; it’s the State who owns it,” Andre said.
In March this year, in a Department of Public Information (DPI) report, Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, Ms Valerie Garrido-Lowe had said that talks were ongoing between her ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources with the aim of finding a solution to the issue of illegal activities in buffer zones.
In April this year, this newspaper had reported on a confrontation which occurred onboard one of the river dredge’s between Micobie’s Toshao and a manager of the machine in the Potaro River. That matter is presently before the courts.
Last Sunday, Andre explained that in mid-2015 when he assumed the post of village leader, a group of Brazilians had owned the river dredges operating in the Potaro River near Micobie. They have since the latter part of 2016 sold the machinery to the local miner.
“Since then,” Andre said, “the problem started, because, by right, the village has to know what is happening within the lands. And they started breaking down the river banks and polluting the water, which is a source for the village.”

Soon after that started happening, Andre said, he started visiting the GGMC offices in the city to determine to what extent the miner was permitted to mine in the river, but according to him, the officials there were not very helpful.
Then, earlier this year, officials of the GGMC visited the village and informed the council of its rights as regards mining. But according to Andre, the entire village felt that tone of the officials at the time suggested that the entity was working “in favour of the miners.”
“We don’t trust the GGMC. Last week when the delegation came to our village, the man from the EPA was stern on the issue, because he asked for maps and reports. And we believe he is the person who will help us in this problem,” Andre said, adding:
“Between 2015 and now, this miner supposed to receive plenty charges because they break the law all the time.”
He said that last week when the EPA official questioned the Mahdia-based GGMC official about whether any mining penalties were imposed on the miner in question, he was told just twice.

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WORRISOME DEVELOPMENT
To crown it all, the village council told this publication that it was only this year that it became aware of the 305 mining claims within its lands, information which was not previously provided to the village council. It was noted that a map with three claims was provided to the previous village council.
“We want to know if since 2006 these claims are there, or when these claims were issued on our lands,” Deputy Toshao, Hilton Hendricks asked. “We were never given any maps with these claims; they never showed us,” he said.
Andre said the only reason he became aware of the claims within the lands was because a villager who was on a “dragga” saw the delineations on a map and informed the village council of the situation after taking photographs of it. “They (GGMC) never showed me a map with these claims,” Andre said.
“If you add up the amount of claims on this land, we as a village would only have five of the 22 square miles of our land,” a former Toshao who sits on the present village council noted Sunday during the meeting with the Guyana Chronicle.
The council says that while it permits mining in the area, it is unclear whether it has any control of the lands within its boundaries. The body is calling on a ministerial team to visit the village and meet with residents. “We believe the EPA people are more concerned, because the officer was asking the GGMC to provide maps,” Andre said, adding that the mining official noted that the maps will be presented by December 1 to the EPA.
According to the council, residents of Mocobie are a peace-loving people, many of whom make their daily living from the waterways, and if the Potaro River is polluted, as they very well suspect, many livelihoods will be lost. To bolster its argument, the body cited the many recurring health issues such as malaria, and the many health defects in children, which they say, may very well be caused by improper mining practices in the area.
According to the Amerindian Act of 2006, Amerindians will have a legal right to traditional mining with the consent of the Village Council and they must comply with the relevant legislation.
There has been a concerted call by residents of Amerindian villages for the amendment of the Act in relation to mining.
In June 2016, Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Sydney Allicock, told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the Act will be reviewed and the revision will also focus on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and many of the land issues.