REPRESENTATIVES of local small scale gold and diamond miners have agreed to a proposal, by President Bharat Jagdeo, for the establishment of a joint committee to review their operations.

The committee will examine and elaborate on current stipulations aimed at avoiding deforestation during mining and look to strengthen existing measures to curb the non-declaration and under declaration of the minerals.

The committee will be chaired by Transport and Hydraulics Minister, Mr. Robeson Benn and include Presidential Adviser, Mr. Odinga Lumumba; Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Commissioner, Mr William Woolford; Commissioner of Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), Mr. James Singh and four others from the mining industry, among them Mr. Norman Mc Lean and Mr. Edward Shields, of Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA).

A release from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said the agreement was made at a dinner hosted by President Bharrat Jagdeo, at State House, where he entertained 20 miners on Tuesday evening.

The function took place against the backdrop of the recent memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Norway, through which Guyana is to receive payments for avoided deforestation, a development which the release said, now puts a significant monetary and moral cost to any unnecessary degradation of the rainforest.

Also in attendance at State House were senior Government functionaries, inclusive of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, Benn, Lumumba, Woolford and GFC’s Singh.

The release said President Jagdeo assured the miners that he recognised and was fully appreciative of their contribution, locally, to exports and employment, directly and indirectly.

It said the Head of State challenged the committee to be open and devise sustainable changes in procedures and practices that will minimise forest degradation.

President Jagdeo disclosed that, Cabinet mandated coordination between the GGMC and the GFC to be increased, and for GGMC staffers to be posted at various locations throughout the hinterland to better monitor all mining operations.

He emphasised that the non-declaration or under declaration of gold, by some miners, though illegal, direct sales to jewellers and smuggling to nearby countries, were leakages which would not be tolerated.

President Jagdeo and Prime Minister Hinds are to be presented with the committee’s considerations on completion of the review and the former urged that the new procedures and practices recommended should not be so bureaucratic as to strangle operations.