Illegal mining decreasing significantly in Guyana

– Over 1,000 Guyanese get mining blocks in three years

   GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) ─  The government of Guyana has observed a significant decrease in illegal mining practices even as more small and medium-scale Guyanese miners are being issued mining concessions, announced minister of natural resources, Vickram Bharrat explained that there are situations where pork knockers would encroach on the properties of other stakeholders and conduct mining activities.

In some instances, the property holders would give permission to the small miners.

“What happens in the interior is that there is no proper agreement and when that small miner finds gold, then those persons are evicted or they’re put off the land,” he said at a year-end press conference on Tuesday.

Consequently, the ministry has ramped up its efforts to issue more concessions to small miners. Lotteries for small and medium-scale properties have been held in Region Seven, Region Eight, and Region One communities.

“I can say safely that over the last three years over 1000 small Guyanese miners, now have access to their own blocks. We have seen a significant reduction in raiding or small miners going on other properties owned by other miners,” minister Bharrat pointed out.

The ministry has also had the challenge of muddling through thousands of unverified claims. When the government assumed office in 2020, there was a tremendous backlog of 18,000 unverified claims, the minister explained – that mining regulations dictate that once a miner stakes a claim on a property, that miner must make an application to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). Once that application is recorded in the system, they can begin mining activities regardless of whether that claim has been verified.

Meanwhile, minister Bharrat lamented that this system has created a “serious problem” for the ministry.

“We have worked over the last four years or so to reduce that backlog. We have reduced that to about 2000 unverified claims to date,” he disclosed.

In addition to reducing that backlog, the ministry has implemented a new system where once a miner states a claim on a property and makes their application to GGMC, they must wait until the commission verifies their claim, which usually would take up to six weeks.

“Once we come and verify it and there is no incumbrance, then we can give you the go-ahead, we can give you the claim licence to start mining,” the minister noted, believing that once the backlog of unverified claims is cleared completely, the ministry would be better positioned to monitor and move towards the eradication of raiding.

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