-as key stakeholders sign MoU

GOVERNMENT has moved one step closer in its approach to regulating the use of mercury in the mining sector, by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the management of the importation of mercury into Guyana.

Signatories to the MoU were the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board (PTCCB), the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
The purpose of the MoU is to coordinate and enhance the procedures for management of the importation, storage, distribution, use and disposal provisions for clean-up in the event of an accident or spill of mercury, which is a known toxic chemical used in Guyana’s gold mining industry.

The MoU outlines the adaptive criteria to which all importers, resellers and users of mercury will adhere to. It also outlines the procedures to which the identified agencies will comply and also seeks to improve communication among the identified agencies with regards to mercury importation, storage, handling, resale and use in Guyana.

“A journey to being mercury free is a long but necessary one. We started it in 2013 after we globally expressed our national acknowledgment of the dangers and hazards of mercury. We made a commitment then towards the elimination of its use by signing the Minamata Convention,” said Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman during a signing ceremony at the Ministry of Natural Resources Annex, on Friday.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. With mercury being a chemical, which is still widely used in the gold mining sector, Minister Trotman said government is still on a pathway to making mercury history in Guyana.

He said the government is steadfast and will continue to preserve and maintain the momentum of creating a safe and clean environment, and to protect the lives and livelihood of the people by addressing the dangers of mercury.

The signing of the MoU is a testament to the political commitment and Guyana’s adaptive actions towards addressing the use of mercury in the country, said Minister Trotman.
“By working collaboratively we will create a platform to build synergies and leverage resources for the national implementation of the Minamata Convention as we proceed and progress on our ‘green’ state trajectory.

“We are working assiduously on the completion of our national action plan as per our obligation under the convention, and through a participatory, multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach we have identified gaps in our efforts towards the holistic implementation of the convention and gaps, which are hindrances at this time to our alignment with our responsible mining initiatives…we are working to close those gaps,” said the minister.
Some of those gaps are data sharing, collection and closer collaboration between key stakeholders. So, according to Trotman, the MoU is built on policy coherence and coordination through a cross-government approach which is geared at addressing the multidimensional nature, use and adverse effects of mercury.
“We know that some have taken a more jaundiced view about government’s resolve to

address the mercury scourge, believing that we want to end mining.
“I therefore end with the restatement of three fundamental truths which are: mining is very good for Guyana, mercury used indiscriminately is bad for Guyana and this government and its partners will work assiduously to reduce the incidence of mercury without jeopardising or diminishing the value and significance of mining and miners,” said Minister Trotman.

NOT RESTRICTING
Commissioner of the GGMC, Newell Dennison, also assured miners that the stakeholders’ collective action is not intended to restrict the effectiveness of the ability of mining operations to produce gold.

Miners’ wellbeing is being considered, even as the GGMC and other strategic stakeholders continue to work towards developing mining practices and the use of methodologies, other than mercury, that can be more efficient in extracting gold.

The use of mercury has, however, been prevalent in the gold mining sector. Official records from the GGMC showed that over the last seven years, some 87,000 kilogrammes of mercury was stocked in the sector. The latest statistics showed that just about 10,000 kilograms of mercury was stocked last year.

GGMC’s ability, to track the amount of mercury being stocked, will be boosted through the MoU which provides for the establishment of an importation register. “With a register we will get a better angle of what is supposed to be stocked officially…checking could become a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure),” said Dennison.

Registrar of the PTCCB, Trecia David, said the board was also pleased that stakeholders will look at the importation of mercury in a more strategic way. “This is done not to affect the mining sector in Guyana, but to protect human health and the environment and to ensure there is not any hoarding occurring and not any illegal trafficking or trade of mercury,” said David.

She said the requirements for importing mercury are stringent because the board wants to ensure that persons are not only importing the chemical substance, but that they have facilities to store it, and arrangements for proper transportation and distribution for sale of the chemical.
Executive Director of the EPA, Dr. Vincent Adams also supported the idea of stringent rules of importation, but noted that mercury has played a significant role in the local gold mining industry. Even though as bad as mercury may be to the health and environment, miners cannot abruptly stop using it. “Within the industry this material, although harmful, is monitored to a large extent by the GGMC, however, its management and control among all of the agencies has hardly been clear and sometimes unknown by regulatory agencies…this MoU will provide that clarity of roles and responsibilities by each of the signatory agencies,” said Dr. Adams.