By Ariana Gordon

A SINGLE mother and her sons who mine in the Kuribrong, Potaro, Region Eight area are calling on the Ministry of Natural Resources to assist them with finding mining lands to maintain their source of income.Ruby Carrington and her sons were caught mining on state property in the Kuribrong area, and were issued a cease-work order earlier this month. However, the family did not stop working. Shortly after receiving the cease-work order, another miner from the town of Bartica, whose name was given, reportedly ventured to the spot Carrington and her children were mining and destroyed all of their property. The man claimed he has documents for the property and that the family needed to stop working immediately.

A report was made to the Bartica Police Station, but the family was reportedly given no satisfaction.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday, during a meeting of the public session at the Ministry of Natural Resources on Brickdam, Carrington said the named miner went to their mining location with police officers and a warden and demanded that they remove from the land.

According to the woman, this miner failed to provide documentation in support of his claim. As such, the family did not remove from the property.

“The following week, he himself come and chop down our box; and last week Wednesday he bring in two police and a warden and he demand to let the dredges come out, (but) the workers refused to move out the dredges,” the woman said.

Carrington explained that this miner was accompanied by another miner who is his friend, (alias is only name given) and armed police officers, who looked on as this miner’s workers and those of his friend destroyed her family’s property.

“The police see that the workers pull out my son’s engine and everything, and demand (that the miner’s friend’s workers) put his engine in the same hole.”

The emotional woman said the two police officers who were present on that day along with the warden “washed down my box. One of my workers go into the camp and end up seeing them, and run away and go and tell Terry (Carrington’s son) that he catch them washing down the box.”

Additionally, evidence was presented to the law-enforcement officers at Bartica that this miner and his team had threatened and forced her sons to leave the hole in which they were working, but she was told it is mandatory that they leave the land because it belongs to the miner.

“Police saw video taken by GM with (this named miner) and gang destroying the box, and they ain’t say nothing,” Carrington added.
Crying bitterly, the woman said she has no other source of income, and has struggled to raise her children.

“I am a woman and I bring my children up from a small age, and I don’t have nowhere to work, and I don’t want my children them to be in nothing illegal,” the woman said, crying before Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes.

Carrington pleaded with the minister to help her family find land to continue mining. She acknowledged that she and her sons were mining in Kuribrong illegally.

“I just begging that if my children dem and myself could get to work and we could get our dollars because we have our expense…” she added.

The woman said she and her family have been mining for approximately seven years, and have been finding it difficult over those years. She said that for all of 2015, she was unable to pay the persons she received the excavator from.

“The excavator; for the whole year we ain’t pay the excavator person nothing. Is from this year January we give them three installment… They see with me for one whole year…,” the woman said as she cried. She stressed: “We didn’t getting no money…I just asking if we can get an opportunity to work.”

At the time the cease-work order was issued, on March 3, Carrington said, her family could not have removed from the land, as the Kuribrong River was swollen. “…the excavator could not cross back the Kuribrong River due to the water swelling, and since last year the water was very low when we crossed over. That’s the reason also make we still stay and work.”

Meanwhile, one of Carrington’s sons, Terrence Ajudia, told the Guyana Chronicle that on March 23, the miner and a team went to their mining camp and “start harassing the workers.”

“They didn’t produce no ID, so you could not identify them properly; and they just come and told us that we have to stop working and move our engine out of our areas…they start chopping the pipe, cutting down the box.”

Asked if he was afraid for his life, Ajudia said at one point he was, as, from all indications, it seemed as though the police officer was ready to gun-butt (pistol whip) him.

“[Because of] how they approached me… I behaved rude, and like the police they want to gun-butt me…so I stay quiet…because I didn’t want to get hurt.”

LOST OVER $1.5M
The man estimates that his family suffered a loss of more than $1.5M. “I can’t really estimate, but is over $1.5M,” he stated.

Ajudia maintained that his family members knew they were mining illegally after being informed by the mines officer, but he noted that the matter could have been dealt with differently.

“That is not the way the police or warden is supposed to come in… They are supposed to be more professional.”

He said his family is in search of justice. “We just really asking for justice, and at least we don’t want this what happen to us happen to other miners,” he added.

CLEAR PROCEDURES
Minister Broomes has told the media that the actions of a mines officer, whose identity is known, are unacceptable. She said that while illegal mining will not be condoned under the APNU+AFC administration, the procedures set out within the regulations and laws governing the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) must be adhered to at all times.

“We cannot condone these things…. We have a system, so if someone go to wash your box, you have to be there, you got to know how much gold it is…”

Broomes said that Carrington and her sons went prospecting in the Kuribrong area, and during their prospecting they found a man on the property whom they assumed was the owner. When asked whether he was the owner, the man said he wasn’t. As a result, the family started to work the property.

“They were wrong, because the place is state land,” said the minister, who noted that the family was issued a cease-work order, after which they wrote the Ministry of Natural Resources on the matter and apologised.

“I told them I will deal with the matter and get back to them. When I went last week, I was told nobody had an application for the place, so I said ok. I went to the acting commissioner…and was told that one Telford Layne has an alternative letter.”

An alternative letter is secured usually after a court ruling on persons mining illegally on state property. It allows miners to receive alternative lands to continue working. According to the minister, the miner in question had made a complaint to the minister, stating that he is the power of attorney for Layne, who owns the property.

“The mines officers got clear instructions what is to be done. The instruction in Georgetown is that the property is owned by nobody… [and] everybody must stop working,” the minister stated.

She explained that the actions of the police and mines officer leave much to be desired, as there has been no report on the amount of gold retrieved after the “wash down” process.

“Under this administration, people can’t pick up people and go in the backdam and get gun and cranking gun…the intention is peace… There is a clear procedure…you get a warning, get a cease-work order …there is provision for that in the regulations,” Minister Broomes noted.

She stressed, “It is not a Mafia club, it is strictly compliance; so when we bring out the order of compliance, you have to comply.

“We know and understand the plight of miners…we had the small miners’ conference, where the small miners asked for land, and this Government will make land available for them,” the minister said.

She announced that a team of officials will be visiting the location soon, and she instructed that all operations on the state land must be stopped.

As it relates to the plight of Carrington and her family, Minister Broomes has said she is committed to discussing the matter with Minister Raphael Trotman on the way forward.