…receives probe report into Geologist death

MINISTER of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, on Thursday, confirmed that he had received the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s (GGMC’s) report on its investigation into the October 8 death of Geologist, Ryan Taylor, at the Troy Resources Inc Karouni Gold Mine. He also promised that there will be a thorough review of the company’s operations.

Trotman said that he had only recently received the report so had not yet gone through it, but planned to do so as soon as possible, noting also that when the company’s operations resumes he plans to visit the Region Seven gold mining operation. “I got the report a few hours ago and I will be going through it,” Trotman said, on Thursday afternoon.

Trotman noted that, like many, he was eager to get down to the bottom of the cause behind Taylor’s death. “Mr. Taylor is dead and that is regrettable and we have to try to find the reason and cause. I don’t believe at this stage we can actually say with any degree of specificity of definition we know exactly what lead to it, but I can say that the GGMC report is in and I am in the process of studying that,” Trotman said.

Taylor died at Troy Resources Inc’s “Hicks One Extension” pit while on duty, after he was buried beneath the rubble of part of the mining pit which had collapsed. Taylor was laid to rest on Thursday. Minister Trotman extended sympathy to Taylor’s work colleagues and assured that everything will be done to ensure that worker safety is paramount.

“They lost a colleague and understandably they are very concerned. They have a right to demand that before full resumption takes place that they feel a level of safety beyond a reasonable doubt. They must feel safe. It is one thing for the company to say that it is safe, it is one thing for the GGMC to say that it is safe, but it is for them who are working in the pits to feel that level of safety and comfort. So I would say to them I hear their concerns, and have all assurances we are working overtime to address them,” Trotman said.

Trotman assured that while the incident occurred only at the company’s “Hicks One Extension” pit, all of the company’s operation will be thoroughly investigated for safety. The company has three pits, the other two being the “Larkin” and “Smarts Three” pits.
“We are not looking at the specific location we are looking at overall safety throughout the camp. Engineers from GGMC and engineers from the company are working on it, and if GGMC sees anything that warrants attention it will be addressed,” Trotman assured.

Trotman said that, prior to the incident, GGMC, over the years, has been carrying out regular quarterly inspections at the company’s mines, as well as periodic visits, and during that time nothing untoward was observed at the operations.

“They do quarterly investigations but apart from the quarterly they do intermittent investigations, on the very day that this accident took place a visit was scheduled. From the reports I’ve received before nothing was observed that would have led to them putting a halt on mining at the company. From time to time areas of concern would’ve come up and they would have been pointed out and corrected but nothing would’ve jumped out as being something that required urgent immediate attention such that you needed to shut operations down. That is the information I’ve received,” Trotman said.

Executives of the union representing the workers, the People’s United and General Workers Union (PUGWU), believe that Taylor’s death was avoidable. PUGWU President, Lincoln Lewis, noted that the Union had been receiving complaints from workers since last year on issues of safety.

Trotman said it was the Union’s job to be aggressive about defending the safety of its members, but denied that enough was not done to address initial reports of safety concerns.

“People will always tell you why it happen and what should have happened before. I would be quite surprised if the Union didn’t make a comment to say that, it is part of what the Union does. They must protect the workers and stick up for them. I am satisfied from the GGMC angle that we did all that we reasonably could. No one prepares or expects an accident. It happens. We are going to review our systems to see if there is any area of improvement that is needed but as I said there is nothing that stood out that pointed to any imminent threat or occurrence of an accident,” Trotman maintains.

Meanwhile, Trotman is confident that the company will resume operations shortly, following Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, Tuesday, October 15, reversal of a work cessation order that was issued last week. “They do have a mining permit and they were mining up to the time of this accident.

So it is in their interest and our interest to see a resumption of normal operations. We want to ensure that before we have a full scale resumption that there are no issues of safety. I think the company wants that, the workers expect that and the government would expect that too. We all have to work in tandem with each other to ensure that we bring the operations back to full scale,” Trotman related.

Troy Resources had issued a memo last Saturday, October 12, informing employees that they were being laid off after Junior Minister responsible for labour, Keith Scott, had written the company, the previous Friday, October 11, directing that they ceased operations at all three of their mining pits.

Minister Ally has since reversed this decision and is expected to meet with the company shortly on the way forward. The MoSP Occupational Health and Safety Department is also carrying out its own investigation into the incident. The company is now expected to resume operations shortly. “I do plan to visit the area soon when resumption start to meet with the workers and to hear from them and to inspect for myself what is happening, so that visit will take place when the mining resumes,” Trotman noted.