…mayor urges different approach to resolving issues

THE Bartica Town Council and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) are at odds over conditions at a sand pit located at Five Miles, Potaro. And, even though Mayor Gifford Marshall on Monday confirmed that cease work orders were issued to the council since February, he said the GGMC had not been responsive to calls for discussions, even as he urged a more reasoned approach in resolving the issue.

On Saturday, during an impromptu visit by a team of workers of the GGMC and Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources Simona Broomes, workers were seen mining in the wall of a sand-pit at Five Miles.

BK International Quarry, Baracara Quarries Incorporated, Durban Quarries, Toolsie Persaud Limited St Mary’s Quarry in the Essequibo River and the Five Mile, Potaro Road sand-pit were all visited by the minister and her team. Upon an order by Mines Manager (ag) Khrishna Ramdass, the workers left the location but shortly after the minister and her team of workers departed, the truck returned to the site to continue extracting the sand.

Speaking with Guyana Chronicle, Marshall said the GGMC issued the cease work order sometime in February and had outlined a number of activities that must be done to ensure compliance with the entity’s rules and regulations. He explained that the GGMC had also issued a pictorial report to the municipality which demonstrated unsafe mining practices at the mining site. “The municipality received the last report in February of this year- it was a picture report—before that there was a cease work order and GGMC outlined a number of things that we have to put in place.

Immediately after, the municipality did some work in a new section of the pit,” the Mayor told the Guyana Chronicle. According to Marshall, in order to gain access to the new section of the mining pit, miners must traverse the old pit.

Broomes told reporters on Saturday that based on information provided to her by the GGMC, in 2015, 2016 and in 2017 cease work orders were issued to the council because the mining site is very unsafe. However, Marshall only referenced to a cease work order for February of this year. He denied that the town council has been playing hide and seek with the GGMC. In fact, the mayor told the Guyana Chronicle that “our records reflect that GGMC called our office on the 16th April, 2018 and scheduled a meeting for the 19th April, 2018 at 1pm, with Mines Manager Mr. Krishna Ramdass and the council immediately arranged for same. It was quite unfortunate that no representative from the GGMC turned up as planned.”

The mayor’s account of what transpired on that occasion, however, conflicts with the statement made by Ramdass. Ramdass told the media that the Bartica Town Council has been more or less dodging the GGMC. But for his part, Marshall said after preparing the new sand pit, the town council was waiting on the GGMC engineers to inspect same. This never happened.

“We are still awaiting GGMC to come in and approve the area we would have done work,” he said, noting that the issue is one for concern. “I will not sweep it [the issue] under the carpet- we do not have the human resources to do all the monitoring as we would want to, and truckers would exploit the situation,” Marshall explained.

He said the land is owned by the state and controlled by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC). The Bartica Town Council acts as a facilitator, the Mayor noted. “We should not be seen as the owner of the sand pit but the facilitator. “I know a cease work order was in place and we closed it off, but to our regret we had a lot of illegal mining where sand is concerned.”

“We try to do monitoring to the best of our ability— we don’t have a loader,” he said in response to why illegal activity continues to occur at the sand pit if has been closed temporarily. Asked why truckers are paying the council to load sand despite the cease work order, Mayor Marshall said, “I can’t speak for the administration” but committed to investigate the matter.

He Guyana Chronicle was told on Saturday by a worker who was present at the Five Mile sand pit that “the boss” paid some $3500 to the town council and received a chit, which serves as permission to extract sand from the area. A meeting with truck owners is slated for today to discuss the unsafe mining practices which occur at the sand and loam pits in Region Seven.

NO PAYMENT OF ROYALTY
Meanwhile, when asked about the non-payment of royalty to the GGMC, Marshall said, he was not in a position to confirm that royalties were unpaid for 2017. “What I know for sure is that royalties ought to be paid.”

He said however, an injunction has been filed against the town council and as such, it cannot access its Citizen’s Bank account. “There is an injunction on the account…which is stifling the work of the council,” he said, noting that if royalties are unpaid, that may be the reason. Marshall could not recall clearly when the injunction against the council was filed. “We cannot spend as we want because we cannot use the Citizens Bank account—there is an injunction on the account.”

The Guyana Chronicle reported on Saturday that for 2017, sand-pit operators extracted approximately 1, 733, 035 tonnes of sand. As a result, some $25, 995, 525 of royalty were generated but only $19, 563, 528 was collected by the Commission. The mayor made it clear that the town council is not against the GGMC doing its work but believes there ought to be a different approach to the situation. “We always complied when they requested of us for some reason or the other.”

In a statement issued to this newspaper, the Mayor congratulated the GGMC for its continued commitment and dedication to the health and safety of workers in the mining industry. “The Municipality of Bartica would be the first to agree that there are major challenges in the mining industry in terms of compliance to the rule of law. However, in the same vein we have with grave concern observed the “New Approach” by GGMC in dealing with matters of “bread and butter”.

“We do hope that very soon good sense will prevail and we will return to the days of mutual respect, open dialogue and citizenry participation in dealing with matters that affect residents,” the statement said.

Marshall told the Guyana Chronicle that neither he nor his council is condoning what has been termed the “lawlessness” in the industry, but stressed that it touches and concerns the livelihood of many. “What I do know for sure is if we do not supply sand to the operators- lots of infrastructural works would be affected and lots of illegal mining in areas you don’t have illegal mining will occur.”

Calls to Mines Manager Ramdass on Monday were unanswered. However, Minister Broomes made it clear that neither her ministry nor the GGMC is attempting to “pick a fight” with operators. “This is about life and death not bread and butter…we cannot allow miners to die. We don’t want any more pit cave-ins. What I saw on Saturday was unsafe mining practices…those workers could have died there,” Broomes told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday. She reminded that all minerals form part of the country’s national patrimony and must be handled in a transparent and safe manner.

“We are conducting a full review of the mining sector and the GGMC has pointed out to me a number of challenges and so the outreach is aimed at putting the houses in order. All stakeholders will be written to and asked to come in to talk with us…this is not about bread and butter, but one of life and death. I cannot compromise as a minister. It is not a fight we are in this together,” she declared.