GGMC seeking stiff penalties for Region Eight rogue miners

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56526488

GGMC seeking stiff penalties for Region Eight rogue miners
They may not have been licensed to operate in the area …Woolford
Stabroek News
Friday, August 10th 2007

GGCM Acting Commissioner William Woolford

Acting Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC)
William Woolford has told Stabroek Business that the Commission will be
seeking the imposition by the courts of severe penalties against the
rogue miners whose illegal gold-mining operations caused widespread
damage to roads and pipelines and polluted community water supplies in
extensive areas of Region Eight, between Mahdia and Salbora.

The GGMC has already moved to impound mining equipment involved in
extensive land mining operations that have torn up roads, ripped out
pipelines and reportedly wreaked havoc among more than 1200 residents
of the Campbell Town community who use the nearby Salbora Falls as a
source of potable water.

Woolford told Stabroek Business that the GGMC believes that some of the
rogue miners may be connected to other businesses in the Mahdia area
but declined to provide any specific information on the identity of the
miners. "We believe we know who some of them are and we are hoping that
the penalties imposed by the courts will serve to deter others," he
said.

According to the GGMC's acting Commissioner the mining operations
responsible for the damage in the Region Eight community could also
face legal action in the matter of the legitimacy of their mining
operations in the area, Woolford told Stabroek Business that the
Commission have reason to believe that at least some of the mining
operations may not be licensed to operate in the area. He said that
this was another serious infraction which the GGMC will be pursuing in
the courts.

Information on the illegal mining activities in Region Eight first came
to public attention following a visit to the area last week by a team
of public officials including Works Minister Robeson Benn and a source
close to the mining industry told Stabroek Business that the Region
Eight situation was a microcosm of a wider problem in the mining
industry. The source told Stabroek Business that some mining operations
continued to show scant regard for the welfare of the host communities
and that they were simply taking advantage of the inability of the
authorities to effectively police the mining regions. "Unfortunately,
responsible mining is left largely to self-regulation," the source
said.

Asked about the effectiveness of policing operations in the country's
mining regions Woolford told Stabroek Business that a de facto
"policing" operation throughout the mining community was simply not
possible given the large area that had to be covered. He explained that
the GGMC's monitoring operations were designed in large measure to seek
to identify transgressions like the recently unearthed Region Eight
situation and to take action against the offenders.

Stabroek Business understands that the authorities are likely to move
to have the rogue miners make full restitution for the damage resulting
from their illegal mining activities and the mining source with whom
Stabroek Business spoke said that the process of making restitution
could include the sale of their confiscated mining equipment to help
meet the restitution costs. The source also told Stabroek Business that
the withdrawal of mining licenses could also be part of the penalty for
the offence.