— Chairman of the Parika/Mora Small Miners Association

CHAIRMAN of the Parika/Mora Small Miners Association, Arthur Thorne is calling on the Guyana Geology and Mining Commission (GGMC) to enforce the rightful ownership of land that belongs to Wayne Viera in the Tassawini Backdam, Chinese Landing, Barama River.

According to Thorne in a letter to the media, Viera acquired the mining concession at the cost of millions of dollars from Guyana Geology and Mining Commission (GGMC) and allegedly entered into an agreement with the community and former Captain of Chinese Landing.

He claimed that the agreement worked for a period of time and then the Captain and Council challenged Viera in court, right up to the CCJ, which found that the property rightfully belonged to Viera.
“While the case was winding its way through the courts, a person or persons unknown raided the land and extracted reputedly thousands of ounces of gold from it. Neither Viera nor the GGMC received one cent in royalties which was hugely unfair to Viera considering all the monies he had spent to acquire and develop the property for mining and the monies he was made to spend in court,” the Chairman said.

The Chairman related that it is time the GGMC steps up and enforces Viera’s rightful ownership of the land and allows Viera to earn his livelihood.
Additionally, he said the Captain should not mislead people such as the Amerindian Councils, the United Nations and other agencies about the truth with the land.

“Viera’s operation is generating employment for over 200 persons, both coastlanders and locals…. Viera is always willing to give employment to members of the community,” the Chairman said but claimed some people, one notably, do not want that to happen.

The Chairman said that for many years he has been operating in Tassawini backdam, Chinese Landing, Barama River and wanted to shed some much-needed light on the issue at hand that has generated attention in the locality, on behalf of Viera.

“Most of our members have been working in the area for decades as has Viera. We are asking for a reasonable solution to an ongoing dispute which should not be a dispute at all because a court as high as the CCJ has already pronounced it in favour of Viera,” the Chairman related.

He added: “Viera, myself, and our employees have been actively mining in the area before Chinese Landing became a reservation. Many companies did mining there, for example, Parapanaima and Strata Gold and they all spent much money prospecting and mining and building infrastructure such as roads to facilitate their operations.”