TIGI urges Govt to come clean on arrangement

Use of dealer to burn amalgam

– as Govt expresses satisfaction with using private dealer

With the lab at the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) out of service, Government has admitted to using the services of a private dealer to amalgamate gold, an arrangement it is satisfied is not ‘incestuous’.
But according to President of Transparency Institute of Guyana Incorporated (TIGI), Dr. Troy Thomas, the move is one that raises concerns. While he acknowledged the need for Government to find an alternative location to ‘burn’ gold, he declared that more transparency is needed for the process.
“While I understand the need to move because people were getting sick, the way it was done (is irregular),” Thomas stated in an interview with this publication. “They said they are not paying anybody, and I wonder whether that is to get around (the process). But that whole arrangement sounds a bit too casual for the Government to be undertaking something like this.
“I think if the Government is doing something like this, they need to be a bit more formal and they need to be a bit more forthcoming with information. We have to know who it is. It’s not just a matter of whether you’re getting paid or not, we need to know who it is,” Dr Thomas said.
Stressing that he was not implying anything on the part of the private dealer, Thomas posited that one reason it was important for Government to come clean on the identity of the company is to allay any uncertainty the public may have about the reputation of the individual.
“They need to be more forthcoming about information to allay fears about what is happening. What the Minister said is not nearly enough. I’m not casting aspersions on anybody, but suppose you have somebody you really don’t want to have dealing with the Government, let’s say a criminal, and I’m not saying the person is, we don’t know. That is a position we should not be in.
“We should know who is providing that service, we should know what or if they’re getting paid, and I find it strange you’re providing a service where you’re processing gold and you’re not getting paid. It sounds so strange to me that I must ask, ‘Okay, you’re not getting cashm so what else are you getting in lieu of cash?’”
When he appeared before the National Assembly’s Committee on Natural Resources on Friday, subject Minister Raphael Trotman had admitted that Government was using the services of a private gold dealer to burn gold.
Trotman informed the committee, “Right now there is no gold being burnt at Brickdam. We are using the services of a dealer and we thank that dealer…I can assure you that no burning will ever occur there again.”
When asked outside the committee whether using this dealer could not be construed as a conflict of interest, Trotman further stated, “It has been raised, but we are satisfied. We have our staff there, but it is a temporary situation. We are actively scouring a few sites; this is only temporary.”
He also noted that the dealer is not being paid for the service he is providing to the Gold Board, which is an important agency charged with overseeing aspects of the gold trade. One of its most important tasks is collecting royalties from gold dealers.
Following the discovery of high levels of mercury in its laboratory, the GGB had contracted the services of Trinidad-based Kaizen Environmental Services to conduct an independent investigation of the effect of the emission, and that company has said the mercury levels are back to normal.
According to the report, the study was conducted on March 28 at ten locations primarily within the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s compound and surrounding areas.
“The mercury (Hg) levels monitored at all ten (10) locations were within the United States Occupational Safety & Health Administration (US OSHA) eight (8) hour Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL),” the report stated.
Out of over 130 staffers tested, it was discovered that more than 60 reported high levels of mercury in their system. (Jaryl Bryan)