GGMC to repair Region Eight roads damaged by miners

GGMC to repair Region Eight roads damaged by miners
Stabroek News, Saturday, September 1st 2007
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56527973

The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) will, in a few weeks,
undertake the repairs to the road ripped apart by miners in Mahdia,
Region Eight acting Commissioner William Woolford told the media
yesterday.

Woolford said a team comprising representatives from the Commission and
the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) visited the location on Wednesday
and the GWI team is expected to provide an estimate for the repairs to
be effected to the pipelines damaged by the dredging equipment.

Meanwhile, Woolford said the GGMC has since been given custody of the
equipment it found in the dredged out areas, while it continues to file
charges against those miners. He said to date the Commission had
compiled a list of 12 miners who may have been involved in the unlawful
activity but was still dealing with inadequate information and so was
still depending on Mahdia residents to assist in this regard.

"From what we heard and what our information shows, some of the miners
are from that very community and all of them are locals," Woolford
said, in response to queries about whether some of the miners that
would face charges included Brazilian nationals. Woolford said the lack
of information has stymied the Commission's efforts to take action
against the culpable miners.

The commissioner said too that several charges are still pending in the
Magistrates' Court for miners whom it charged for damage to the same
stretch of road last year. Gold and diamond miners dredged several
stretches of the road between Mahdia and North Fork and damaged
pipelines which supplied potable water to surrounding communities,
causing serious suffering to about 1,200 families.

Over a long period they had caused severe damage to the road which was
motivated by the high yield of mineral resources in the area. The
mining operations responsible for the damage in the Region Eight
community could also face legal action regarding the legitimacy of
their operations there. Woolford had told Stabroek Business that the
Commission had 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.