Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 31, 2010 Letters
Dear Editor,
There is Guyanese proverb that says “Han Go- Han Come”, meaning that “if you do for me I will do for you”. The present “winner take all” scenario playing out as a battle between forest conservation on the one hand, and curtailing the mining industry on the other, is causing serious vibrations on the ground.
One only has to read the opening lines of mining magnate Patrick Perreira’s historic five-page advertisement on the subject to understand how seriously this battle is being taken and the lengths some are prepared to take it.
However we look at it, there is widespread perception within the minds of operators and workers of the mining industry that they have been placed squarely in the sights of the LCDS gun, and that they are targeted for destruction. The flurry of explanatory and placatory letters being written by the Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and GGMC Commissioner have done little to quell the groundswell of concern, and even anger, being expressed by dredge owners and miners.
To the last one, every miner that I have spoken to has said to me that Perreira’s views are their views. Some even believe that his actions are heroic. In a nut shell, they believe, that the move by Government, to satisfy LCDS requirements will see a drastic lessening of mining to the point that most of them, if not all, will become extinct. In exchange, the government and people of Guyana will receive approx. US$30,000 a year from Norway. This is a far cry from the amount garnered from the 300,000+ ounces (@ US$1,000+ per ounce) of gold declared to the gold board in 2009. Mining therefore is not a fly by night and insignificant industry in Guyana.
The mining and forest industries in Guyana employ and support approximately 250,000 persons based on conservative estimates. Therefore, anything that affects either will lead to sever economic and social dislocation and upheaval in Guyana. In my view therefore, a programme of conciliation rather than confrontation has to be developed to manage the tension arising from the obvious need to conserve and protect the environment.
Instead of the matter being looked at through a trees-vs-minerals zero sum prism, we have to see how best we can sustain our environment and yet not displace the thousands who rely on mining and logging for a living. These persons, in my humble opinion, have the right to earn a living by extracting the resources that God has placed in Guyana. It is our birth right and responsibility to both protect the forest and to find ways to enjoy the resources that have been placed in our hands. The experts say that it can be done in a far smoother and sustainable manner than is being done now.
Certain facts must be accepted
1. The Amerindians are the original forest dwellers and apart from ensuring that they have the first say in what happens within it, their way of life must be protected and preserved.
2. Our gold mining is small scale, and in a general manner of speaking, has limited environmental damage, though the argument that the multiplying effect of many small miners can be damaging to the environment, cannot be discounted.
3. The dwellers, workers, and users of our forests need to be educated and assisted to the point of understanding and applying sustainable mining practices; with the expectation that there are new economies to be derived from cleaner and better managed operations.
4. Gold mining does not lead to serious deforestation. Even the LCDS acknowledged that the rate of overall deforestation is less than 1% annually.
5. Gold is a high value commodity and potentially can increase our foreign exchange reserves (BOG), which always are held in some gold and more US Treasury bills.
6. The effects of mining can be corrected in a number of years where there is small and medium scale mining.
7. Guyana cannot support any programme in the LCDS which disrupts this industry.
8. The financial sector is heavily involved in the mining industry and can be left exposed and consequently, at risk, if there is a drastic downturn in the mining sector.
9. That the unmentionable number of illegal guns and weapons in the interior can find themselves here in the City and into the hands of those who are hungry and unemployed. We cannot handle the crime wave that would follow if we closed the mines rashly.
10. We do not know enough about the activity within our forests and the full extent of the environmental damage or lack thereof. This has to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
In this vein, it is being proposed that there be the establishment of a new Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources and Environment that will formulate and oversee the implementation of the policy for all aspects of forestry conservation, harvesting of trees, mining, developing resources for our energy needs, and managing the environmental impacts of these. No self respecting sovereign nation can afford to seal its resources away for all time because it is in hot pursuit of some foreign currency.
We are all committed to managing our environment better and preserving our forest canopy, but this cannot be done at the expense of all of the other valuable considerations and opportunities that present themselves in the hinterland of Guyana.
As an immediate step, the tension between forestry and mining must be de-escalated by the government.
For a start there has to be a review of the six-month “start-up” requirement being proposed before mining can commence. It will have a catastrophic financial effect on operators who are servicing loans for equipment.
It cannot fly and should be withdrawn altogether. Before mining commences the Forestry Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency should already have done their work and set out their findings and recommendations. It is draconian to expect a miner to have these tests done when he is getting ready to mine and to wait six months for the results.
There has to be a return to the drawing board and subsequently, the discussion table, and a moving away from the letter writing by government ministers and officials and dinners at the State House in an effort to justify the untenable. Remember, if “han wash han, all two han come clean”.
Raphael Trotman
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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