RESIDENTS of Monkey Mountain in the North Pakaraimas (Region Eight), come November 1, 2019, will be producing their own jewellery, ornaments and exotic furniture pieces from semi-precious stones with expected commissioning of a $10M lapidary.

Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe, will be heading up to the picturesque village of 1,000 residents who will finally be making better use of the semi-precious stones which can be found in abundance on the plains of the Pakaraimas.

On the National Communication’s Network’s programme ‘INSIGHT’ on Wednesday, Minister Garrido-Lowe said that nothing should stop Guyana from wisely utilising its bountiful natural resources for the benefit of its people.

She explained, “Monkey Mountain is blessed with many semi-precious stones and two years ago I said ‘why not’?” In Latin America, Brazil, you go any country abroad and [you see that] they make beautiful jewellery and different crafts with semi-precious stones so why can’t we do it here right in Guyana? Why not in Monkey Mountain?”

She stated that when the idea was placed to the village’s former Toshao, Hampton King, he was very pleased with the initiative and the plans were later equally well-received by the villagers.

The minister told the story of a woman who had come to her during a visit to the village bringing an amethyst as big as tennis ball, which she found in the hills.

“They liked the stones [but] they didn’t know what to do with the stones,” Garrido-Lowe said. “They were keeping it in their homes – the pieces that they loved.”

In 2018, it was reported that 15 youths and a few adults from the village had been actively involved in gathering semi-precious stones and Minister Garrido-Lowe assured villagers that there will be tremendous benefits awaiting them once the project was on stream.

She had explained that it is government’s intention to empower and enable the Indigenous people despite their geographic location.

“I believe that no matter what fancy building we give you [or] fancy schools we give you, if we do not empower you economically; if we cannot give you the opportunity to earn to buy things for your children, yourself and your home, then we are not doing anything better for you; we are just keeping you the same way you were all the time and it is not right”, she said.

On the programme, she thanked minister of finance and team for giving the project the ‘greenlight’.

Meanwhile, the location for the building was chosen by the people and an engineer from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs designed the building.

However, prior to the technical work, the minister reached out to an expert in production from semi-precious stones, Marcel Yhip, who has had over 30 years of experience in the field.

Yhip was asked to impart her knowledge and provide guidance to persons involved in the project to ensure that the semi-precious minerals meet international market standards.

“I remembered her and I approached her and I took her up with me because we had to do a feasibility study to see whether this can work. So, she went into the fields with the people and she discovered semi-precious stones of high standards that we can use,” the minister said.

As a part of the collaboration, youths from Kurukabaru, Tuseneng, Kato, Mikwak and Monkey Mountain benefitted from training where they learned about semi-precious stones and how to mine them.

Ten of the youths who successfully passed through the training in Monkey Mountain were selected to travel to the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial (SENAI) Institute in Brazil where they were further trained in a lapidary laboratory to work on modern equipment.

The students lived in the country and later successfully graduated with credits while, with the help of SENAI, the government was able to procure the right, state-of-the-art equipment for the job.

“So, they’re back now in Monkey Mountain and right now they’re preparing for the launching of this facility,” Minister Garrido-Lowe said.

As part of the lapidary, there is a laboratory, storeroom, kitchen area, an office and a showcase room.

The ministry intends to collaborate with the Ministry of Public Telecommunications to use the Internet for the marketing and sale of the products when complete.

Garrido-Lowe said, “I am happy with our government. We are closing that gap between hinterland and coastland; that gap that separated the opportunities from reaching the hinterland. It just needed the will of a government to make the call and invest and treat them just as equal as the coastland.”