…Trotman tells young miners ministry will continue to invest in the mining sector

THE Guyana Mining School and Training Centre has launched its pilot training programme for first-time miners, where miners who were in attendance, were educated on topics of dealer expiration, mining excavation and occupation safety and health.

During the opening ceremony of the programme on Monday at the Girl’s Guide Association, Minister of Natural Resources, Rapheal Trotman, praised the first-time miners and also the women who were present among the men for their interest in the mining sector.

“I happy to see many first-time miners and more importantly, I’m happy to see the group of women who are here, I think it is a tribute not only to you for the strength and the limits you are taking to get into what is known to be a male preserved, but it also tells us that the industry as we know it is transforming and evolving so welcome to you all,” he told the young miners.

Mining is a noble profession that exposes everyone who wishes to enter into a range of experiences, as such Minister Trotman related that the Ministry of Natural Resources has recognised the need to not only make lands available to small miners, but to also to provide training and support investment, time and money to foresee the best yields.

He added that it is also critical that the ministry ensures that miners are mining in a safe and sustainable environment. “Mining is apart of who we are it is as a generic as the air we breathe so we don’t need any [manifesto] to make specific detail recommendations for it, what we want to focus on in this new era of development of making mining safer and more interest being placed on the best practices,” he noted.

The minister related that, too many times in the past, he would have received late night calls and text of instances where a pit has caved in with a young person and such this training is critical as it will not only focus on the technicalities of mining, but also the safety and wellbeing of miners.

Since 2015, the Ministry of Natural Resources has declared 3.6M ounces of gold in Guyana, which brought in about US$3.8B in revenue hence, Minister Trotman stated what we ought to do is make it healthier, more robust, to protect the people in the environment
Minister Trotman further stated that lands have been approved for over 90 new applicants, over 550 blocks of land were allotted to last year, this he added will allow for Guyanese, particularly first-time miners, to ply their trade in the mining sector.

The ministry stated that this will continue to provide more access to lands for small miners, in keeping with its commitment to the mining sector as such he urged those present to take full advantage of the opportunity.

“I encourage you to take advantage of this training opportunity and to make every effort to implement the skills and the techniques that you will learn post training.”
In closing, Minister Trotman noted that, “you can’t make an omelet without breaking an egg,” meaning that you can’t mine without disturbing the land, however, the training programme will see a course which will educate the young miners on precautionary measures to leave a minimum impact on the environment.

“You should leave the minimum of foot print as possible, so we want to teach you how we can do that, it is not impossible, it is not very difficult we can do that, it can be done at the minimum expense,” Minister Trotman told the young miners.