Team to be sent to address sand mining concerns in Region Two

Feb 15, 2021 News

Kaieteur News- The Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, announced yesterday that a team from the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, will soon visit sand mining operators in Region Two, in an effort to alleviate some of their concerns.

Some of the sand pit operators and residents of Onderneeming.

The Minister was at the time meeting with sand mining operators at Onderneeming Sandpit on the Essequibo Coast. During the meeting, miners explained that there are quite a number of challenges, which continue to plague sand mining operations within the Pomeroon/Supenaam region.

Kaieteur News understands that there are three major sand pits, presently in operation on the Essequibo Coast – Capoey, Onderneeming and Mainstay/Whayaka. A female representative of the Mainstay/Whayaka community explained that mining in her community has been on a standstill for over six months. “In July last year,” she said, “we got shut down because of claims that we were not in compliance with the regulations. When we tried reapplying we still got a difficult time.”
Minister Bharrat explained that the community’s mining operations were halted, since the community was allegedly mining close to residential area. “The Commissioner of Guyana Lands and Survey said that the reason the mining was stopped, is because the activity was encroaching on the housing area and those kind of things can have quite a number of consequences,” said the Minister.

Minister Bharrat as he addressed the concerns of Sand Mining Operators yesterday. (

Ralph Hendricks, the Toshao of the Capoey community, said that GGMC has not conducted a survey of Capoey’s sand pit, for almost a year.

“Since March we didn’t have a surveyor come and survey our sand production. Every month the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission use to come and survey the pit so they know how much royalty we have for them. We need to see them back in the sand pit at Capoey,” said the Toshao.
Hendricks also requested that a road be constructed which would bridge the sandpit with an already existing ‘crush and run’ road.