FOLLOWING a decades-old mining issue at Chinese Landing, Tassawini Village Council, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday, during a press conference, said that a multifaceted team will be deployed to the village to discuss the way forward.

According to Dr. Jagdeo, the government is working to resolve the issue, although it poses a challenge, since they also have to be respectful of the ruling issued by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in 2017.
“We are going to, once again, send in another team to visit the area, and that would be a multifaceted team dealing with environment [and] social issues, mining rights, everything, to meet with the community, and then prepare a report,” he said, adding that the findings will be submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

During discussions with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Dr. Jagdeo said it was revealed that the situation is complicated, since there is no consensus within the village. He said that while some villagers have no issue with the mining, others do.
He also pointed out that there are illegal mining operations within the area, and it is not even the company that took Guyana to court. In response to this, Dr. Jagdeo said the illegal miners will be penalised.

“We believe that any transgressions there of a social, environmental mining nature should be penalised heavily,” he said.
According to a ruling issued by the CCJ in 2017, which overturned a decision made by the Court of Appeal here, the GGMC had no authority to order Wayne Vieira, in November 2010, to cease all work at his Chinese Landing operation, in spite of having a mining permit to do so.

The ruling stated that the CCJ’s decision rests on the fact that Vieira had no agreement with the Chinese Landing-Tassawini Village Council in Region One at the time the Cease Work Order (CWO) was issued.
As such, what the CCJ’s ruling has done is to effectively restore an earlier High Court decision, and award Vieira costs to this effect.