FOLLOWING a widely circulated video showing an altercation between a Guyanese cook and a Russian security guard, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Labour have launched a joint investigation into the operations of Innovative Mining Inc., according to Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton.

The cook, Charles McDonald and the security guard who has since been identified as V. Sorokin are employees of the mining company.

Minister Hamilton told the Guyana Chronicle that prior to the circulation of the video, both the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Natural Resources had initiated investigations into the company’s Cuyuni-Mazaruni operations, after receiving several complaints about non-compliance with Guyana’s labour laws.

Speaking about the physical confrontation between the two men, the minister said the incident which occurred sometime during last week stemmed from the alleged theft of 11.9 grams of gold by the Guyanese cook.

He stated that according to the information obtained by the ministry, the Russian security guard who allegedly launched the attack against the cook did so after the man’s refusal to allow a search of his person after he was fingered in the theft.
“The altercation came about because the cook, he was refusing to be searched after it was alleged that he was attempting to smuggle gold out of this mining camp, so that is the issue that created this altercation,” said the minister.

Minister Hamilton noted that while it is a common practice in mining communities to conduct random searches on staff members if gold materials go missing, the ministry condemns the actions of the security guard in attempting to carry out his duties after the man had resisted.

Further, Minister Hamilton explained that the matter is currently being investigated by the Home Affairs Ministry. He stated that prior to circulation of the video, the Ministry of Labour had received an excessive number of complaints of labour violations and had initiated investigations into those claims.

“I had received reports of labour breaches by the company which is Innovative Mining, so a little while before this video circulated, I had the chief labour officer summon them to a meeting which is supposed to be sometime this week… I summoned them to deal with labour breaches that is, not paying overtime and the issue of not giving leave and those kinds of issues,” said Hamilton.

Meanwhile, he noted that the Ministry of Natural Resources through the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) have also launched investigations to ascertain who is conducting operations at the mining site.

Further, he explained that the laws indicate that non-Guyanese can only be granted licences for large- scale mining concessions, not medium or small-scale as is currently being done at the site.

“This claim originally was given as a Guyanese medium-scale miner to one of the Jagmohans. The law does not allow for expatriates to own mining land that are medium-scale and small-scale and so at the level of the Ministry of Natural Resources, I communicated, myself and Minister Bharrat, we have been working on this matter. He has instructed the GGMC to indicate how you have expatriates on the mining land,” the minister said.