…burning of gold being facilitated at Pure Diamond Inc. GOLD miners selling gold to the

Guyana Gold Board (GGB) are now being referred to Pure Diamond Inc. in Campbellville following the closure of the agency’s laboratory within the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) compound last month.

The Guyana Chronicle was told by staffers of Pure Diamond Inc. that the GGB operation has temporally moved into their location and is using the company’s facilities.

“GGB officials are here and they are using our facilities,” the staff corrected, when asked whether the company was burning gold on behalf of the GGB. The male staff said that miners are still required to go to GGMC compound where the relevant process is done before declaring the gold. He said miners are given certain information and a document and are then asked to visit Pure Diamond Inc. where they again engage GGB staff for the completion of their transaction.

When the GGB said that it would stop the burning of gold in GGMC’s compound due to the lingering mercury threat, they noted that the necessary arrangements were being put in place and that miners would have been informed about the locations where they would have to go to sell quantities of the metal.

The GGB had to relocate its operations after high levels of mercury were detected in the GGMC compound. The chemical affected a number of workers and even caused a large number of them to be sent home on sick leave due to mercury poisoning, while others had to vacate the compound to facilitate cleaning of the mercury residue.

GGMC’s Commissioner Newell Dennison told the Guyana Chronicle that cleaning in the facility is ongoing even as additional chemicals would be used to ensure a proper clean-up of the compound. “The clean-up is unfolding and we are using all precautions necessary,” Dennison told this newspaper. He said as areas are being treated, testing is being done alongside to monitor the progress being made with remaining levels.

Information from the GGB is that the agency is still trying to locate a suitable location for their lab. As it is, GGB staffers are still located at the GGMC compound but no burning of the precious metal is being done there.  The newspaper was told that a new location for the GGB staffers currently housed at GGMC’s Brickdam office is also being sought.

The GGMC compound was described as a “ghost town” by persons close to the Brickdam location. Many GGMC staffers had refused to return to work despite the GGB lab being closed. They supported a clean-up of mercury residue in the GGMC compound after they had downed tools and abandoned their jobs in protest of the GGB operations being conducted at the GGMC facility.