Pork-knocker Day brings curtain down on Mining Week 2017

An exciting and fun-filled Pork-knocker Day of activities held in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) on Saturday brought the curtain down on this year’s Mining Week 2017. The event was organised by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
The Pork-Knocker’s Day event, which showcases the many aspects of the life of small miners was held at the Bayroc Community Centre Ground this year, where hundreds turned up to experience small mining activities.
Process Coordinator of the GGMC, Donald Singh told members of the media that the event was also a means of creating awareness and celebrating pork-knockers, who were pioneers in the frontiers of Guyana’s mining sector. Attendees and participants which included Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman and Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland, were afforded the opportunity to be a part of competitive activities such as the Warishi Race, Tacouba Crossing Competition, camp building and  Bahir/cooking competitions; shoveling jigging, bateling competitions and life saving mine rescue demonstrations. Other side attractions also included story-telling, football, cricket and dominoes. Numerous exhibition booths including the GGMC, the Guyana Forestry Commission, Digicel and GuyTrak were among those on showcase. The Healthy Living Club of Linden which also formed part of the event utilised the opportunity to offer free blood sugar and blood glucose level testing. Singh described the turn-out at the event as “excellent” despite rain showers later on in the day, but noted however that it was not well supported by miners. This he noted may have been due to various issues experienced by miners which are being reported in sections of the media. Singh nevertheless thanked Lindeners for their support and hospitality. The Pork-knocker playoffs, which is a mini version of the events, was also hosted last year in the mining town of Linden.
However, missing from the activities and festivities of Mining Week 2017 were the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), along with the National Mining Syndicate which boycotted the events.
The two organisations in a statement accused the Government of only taking from miners, without developing infrastructure or providing adequate services in return. (Utamu Belle)