AFTER months of allegedly being bullied by a larger miner, 44-year-old Rhonda Roberts has turned to the natural resources Ministry to intervene, saying that she will not sit idly by and allow her blocks to be raided of billions of dollars in gold.

Roberts, a female miner for the past 12 years, received her Mining Licence from GGMC in 2011, after first securing her Prospecting Licence.
In an interview with Guyana Chronicle and Capitol News on Thursday, Roberts, with supporting evidence, said she is being barred from accessing two of her mining blocks in Oko, Cuyuni, District Four, although being the legal owner of the properties. A large-scale miner (name given) has reportedly seized the blocks but not before raiding it of more than one billion dollars’ worth of gold.

Roberts explained that after issuing a Power of Attorney to Gregory Brandon in 2016, it was revoked in 2017 on neutral grounds. Upon realising that the rental fees for the mining blocks had not been paid, the miner, through her Attorney Nigel Hughes, wrote the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to issue the payments in May, but was asked to wait to allow for legal advice, although documents at the commission confirmed that the blocks belong to her.

It was during that period that Roberts learnt that her properties for a period of approximately two years had been consistently raided by a well-known large-scale miner. A complaint was filed on August 22, 2017, resulting in a mines officer visiting the mining blocks and issuing a cease work order to the large-scale miner.
“They stopped working at the time but they continue maintaining their presence there, their security, their rangers, unto this date and they are terrorising other people who are working there, cutting down their boxes, taking away their gold,” Roberts told Guyana Chronicle.

In September, upon confirming that the blocks were indeed issued to Roberts, she was allowed to pay the rental fees for the two blocks, which totalled more than $700,000.

TO NO AVAIL
With the large-scale miner maintaining security presence on the blocks, the 44-year-old miner made a second complaint to GGMC on November 29, 2017, but to no avail.
“I made several calls after then to meet with the (GGMC) commissioner… I made five calls. I spoke to the secretary and she kept telling me she will call me back, she will call me back, never did.”

Roberts noted that during this report, she made frequent visits to the Land Management Division, and spoke with the manager, who from all indications was very professional, asking her to allow the process to take its course.
But the situation, Roberts noted, deteriorated on December 30, 2017 when the large-scale-miner ordered his heavily armed security personnel to “chop down the boxes” belonging to Melroy Benjamin and Richard Abrams–two smaller miners who had been working on Roberts’ behalf.

Following that incident, Roberts was urged to make another attempt to meet with acting GGMC Commissioner, Newell Dennison, but the meeting, according to her, was nothing she had anticipated.

“His exact words to me were, he thinks (the larger miner) chopped the boxes down because GGMC did not give me a written approval to operate,” she recalled.
Roberts said much to her surprise and dissatisfaction, the commissioner told her to stay off the property until the matter is resolved.
“So I asked him ‘why you allowed me to pay for my property and I cannot go on it until now’. My mortgage is 600, 000 a month. I put the bank on hold just to pay my commitment to GGMC so that I can go and work to accumulate money, to do what I have to do; now I can’t access it,” Roberts complained.
Waving her Mining Permits and receipts for the rental fees paid, Roberts questioned why, as the legal owner of the properties, she is being prevented from accessing her blocks.

FRUSTRATED
The situation, she cried, is very frustrating, noting that she has financial commitments she must live up to.
“That’s why I am here, because I am feeling bullied, frustrated, exploited. I am feeling everything because I paid since September and up to now I can’t go on my property,” the mother of two cried.

Her lawyer said moving to the court is the next option, but Roberts said she should not be forced to turn to the court when GGMC has a responsibility to intervene.
“I am asking GGMC to do their jobs. The commissioner is telling me ‘I should go to the court and file an injunction’. Why should I spend money on an injunction in the court when GGMC has its job to do? I think that is their job to go and stop him?
Frustrated over the situation, Roberts filed a complaint to Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, but said that she will not stop there if the situation is not rectified soonest.

She pledged to lodge a complaint to the Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, and even the Ministry of the Presidency if needs be.
Speaking with reporters, Minister Broomes, in an invited comment, said she will request of the commissioner to launch an investigation into the matter and submit a brief report before she responds to Roberts.

“GGMC has a solid part to play in it, and the part to play in it is a very simple one. There are laws in which the commission is governed by, and you have to execute them regardless of who the person might be. It is a responsibility of the commission; it is not when a miner goes to make a complaint that we are doing them a favour; that is their right. They pay five per cent royalty; they pay their taxes and everything,” Minister Broomes said.

The junior natural resources minister made it clear that illegal mining in the industry will not be tolerated. It was explained that the normal practice is that when such a complaint is filed, a cease work order can be issued and the equipment seized as well. Charges can also be instituted against defaulters, allowing for them to be placed before the court. Thursday, confirmed that he met with Roberts days ago. He confirmed that
The acting GGMC commissioner, when contacted by Guyana Chronicle on Thursday, said according to GGMC’s records, the mining blocks belong to Roberts, and as such, based on the situation, gave an undertaking to have GGMC officers on the ground intervene.