Govt lists mining as essential service

…rationale behind decision a “mystery” – TIGI

The designation of mining as an essential service has raised serious concerns among key organisations, as it fails to register as a service which is necessitated by all Guyanese.
This is according to Transparency Institute Guyana Incorporated (TIGI), and was approved by entities such as the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR), Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), Guyana Society for the Blind (GSB), Policy Forum Guyana (PFG), Red Thread and the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) among others.
In its revised list through an official gazette document in April, the Public Health Ministry had included “mining and petroleum” as an essential service. Raising serious concerns via a statement, the organisations stated that the rationale being putting mining on the list is a “mystery”, since it contributes to illegal mining and acts as an avenue to spread the virus.
“Designating a service to be ‘essential’ implies all Guyanese in some way have a right to it. Even if that were the case with mining, the appropriate agency to protect that right would be the Environmental Protection Agency – not the mining industry.”
It went on to say that the reality is that the gold mining industry “does not recognise inherited ownership in patrimony of gold or other natural assets”. Instead, it is treated as ownerless until ‘discovered’ by miners. The industry converts publicly-owned assets into private gain at a financial loss to both current and future generations. Moreover, the collateral damage of other natural assets perpetrated by gold mining extends to the destruction of other natural resources.
“To add insult to injury, the main beneficiaries of gold mining in Guyana are a handful of people who between them hold hundreds of large-scale mining properties disguised as medium-scale through licensing malpractice. The true value of the wealth generated by gold in Guyana is not known accurately. However, under-reporting of the gold produced is practiced widely. The historical abuses associated with mining are justified by reference to the number of people employed in the industry while accountability for human and environmental health hazards is ignored,” the organisations penned.
The economic recession as a result of COVID-19 has sent the world price of gold close to US$1800 per ounce. Combined with the “austerity” felt by the Guyanese population, it was indicated than an unprecedented expansion in the gold sector can be expected. For now, authorities in Mahdia are already complaining of illegal forestry and mining being experienced in the district.
In the statement, precedents in the past have shown that trucking and other activities have led to a spread of viruses. This was experienced during the HIV-AIDS virus pandemic some 20 years ago. The act of illegal mining adds to these threats.
“Mining trucks penetrate all parts of the interior. Unlike HIV-AIDS in which contagion depended on the behaviour of miners and truckers, their presence alone is sufficient to drive COVID-19. Attempts by interior communities to control access to communities are being circumvented by truck drivers…To this extent, any commercial activities, including trucking, associated with illegal mining, compounds the threat of the COVID-19 virus.”
For now, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) remains vulnerable to illegal visitors, despite the closure of the border with Brazil.
Recommendations were issued by the entities, calling on the National COVID-19 Task Force to remove gold mining from the list of essential services, as well as employing more robust enforcement measures to prevent interior traffic penetrating interior communities.
Legal action was requested against individuals and companies working on or supplying services to illegal mining or forestry operations; along with more rigorous enforcement of border closure and informal crossings with Brazil.