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Gold-mining takes centre-stage as elections fever heats up -- Jagdeo to meet miners Thursday

October 18, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Source - Kaieteur News

Worried miners during the meeting with President Bharrat Jagdeo in February 2010 at the International Convention Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.

Gold miners, coasting on a high from record prices on the world market, are set for a critical meeting Thursday with President Bharrat Jagdeo to discuss, among other things, the state of the industry.

The meeting on Thursday will be held at the Regency Suites, Hadfield Street, and is set for 15:00hrs.

It will come at a time when Government has not made any pronouncements for new mining measures, including a six-month mining notice, that were being studied by the administration since last year.

According to Executive Director of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), Tony Shields, the Members’ Meeting was set for last week but postponed after the association learned that the President was available for an engagement with miners this week.

“The President had signaled his intentions to meet with miners in October,” the official told Kaieteur News yesterday.

With elections set for November 28, the meeting will take heightened significance as already the Alliance For Change (AFC), in advertisement in this publication yesterday, promised to remove the proposed six-month requirement that miners have to give before commencing operations.

It will be recalled that in early 2010, this particular proposal had ignited a heated debate and shut Bartica, a community located in upper Essequibo and long considered the gateway to the interior’s mines, for one day.

Miners became uneasy after a letter issued by Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who is charged with mining responsibilities, came to light in late 2009. The PM reportedly instructed the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the country’s mining regulators, to implement new systems that will mandate miners to give a six-month notice before commencing operations.

There were protests in several mining communities with even a team of ministers and other Government officials travelling to Bartica on January 30, 2010, to quell the threat of a shut-down.

Days later, in February 2010, President Jagdeo met with hundreds of miners at the International Convention Centre where the official assured that mining activities will not stop even though the regulatory body, GGMC, would have to be notified.

Additionally, at a packed meeting at the International Convention Centre at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, the President announced that he was also extending the life of a special mining committee- Special Land Use Committee (SLUC)- he had appointed in early January 2010 to include representatives of small miners from various communities across the country.

He had made it clear that miners, especially small miners, could start mining in a three-hectare area in a concession area, while awaiting word from loggers whether they will be extracting logs.

There have been repeated calls from GGDMA and other stakeholders for Government to release SLUC’s recommendations which up to earlier this year were still being “studied” by Cabinet.

According to AFC in its half-page advertisement, yesterday, on its plans for the mining industry, it will review legislations and regulations which negatively impact it.

There will be improved security and fair processing of firearm licences and more rights for indigenous people and stakeholders for management of lands.

A gold refinery is to be established and more lands will be set aside for mining.

It will also establish a special fund using 25 per cent of the all revenues collected from licensing, profits, royalties and fines to assist in environmental restoration, waste management and more training for specialists to regulate mining activities.

Yesterday, gold prices which have steadily been rising over the past year as a number of large economies around the globe struggle, stood at US$1,671 per ounce. It had reached as high as US$1,800 per ounce. Analysts have predicted that it will take a while before the gold prices slow its climb.

In Guyana, there has been a mad rush to capitalize with heavy investments reported in the interior in mining operations.

However, the gold declarations have not yet seen any significant rise, officials have said.

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