Guyana, land of the fabled city of El Dorado, has for decades attracted locals and foreigners to its vast forested interior in the hunt for gold and diamond and other precious minerals. The only problem with that is that they have been destroying the Amazon forest in the process.

President Bharrat Jagdeo’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) aims to protect the country’s forest – the size of England – if he can be paid to do it. And the money is coming in. Norway has already said it will give the country US$250 million over the next five years, but it has to implement stringent mining regulations. And here comes the nasty fight with the country’s miners, such as Patrick Perreira.

Pereira, a prominent member of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, argues that the amount of trees cut down by the miners is minimal.

He said it is hard to understand why an important industry which only harvests 0.0294 of uneconomic forested area yearly, employing over 100,000 persons and producing US$400M, could be targeted for miniaturization.

“The fallout from the miniaturising of the small and medium scale mining industry would be catastrophic,” said Perreira.

Small and medium scale mining companies in Guyana fear new regulations could put them out of business and lead to a collapse of the industry, but the government says their fear is misplaced.

“The government would not support policies to regulate mining out of existence,” says Dr Roger Luncheon, the government’s chief spokesman.

Miners have been allowed to continue cutting down trees in the areas where they mine; the new regulations aim to stop this by having the miners give notice six months in advance of the area they intend to mine and to stipulate the clear felling of trees which would accompany their intended activity.

Luncheon said long before the promulgation of the LCDS, concerns were being raised about the impact of mining on the environment.

“The interest is to have a balanced, sustainable, exploitation of our natural resources,” explained Luncheon.

According to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, timber operators are virtually required to obtain pre-approval from the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) before felling any tree while on the other hand miners have been allowed to continue felling trees as they have perceived the need.  

At a meeting with the head of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, William Woolford, some 100 miners of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association called on him to scrap the new regulations.

However, Woolford disagreed, saying the new regulations would not lead to a death of the mining industry.

“Neither the LCDS nor the MOU (with Norway) demand, requires, or suggests the cessation of mining,” Woolford says.

“The mining sector is too big to fail,” Luncheon, quoted earlier, stated.

Weathy sector


In fact, last year, Guyana saw one of the best years in gold mining.Small and medium size miners exceeded projections, declaring 305,178 troy ounces (roughly 9,4 kg).  This represented a 17.2 percent increase over 2008 figure. The projection was for 257,503 ounces. The Guyana Gold Board said gold exports for last year was US$281.68 million. Miners say the new regulations could reverse the good fortunes of the industry, and actually lead to its collapse.

Woolford said his Commission and the Gold and Diamond Miners Association have always urged the miners to comply with all the applicable laws.

“The thrust for miners to operate in accordance with acceptable international standards continues to get stronger and certainly predates the LCDS and the MOU with Norway; no one can deny that this thrust is vital,” states Woolford.

The local gold and diamond mining industry has been increasing its excavation capability and has started focusing on mercury abatement methods, improved recovery systems, as well as on improving exploration methods and equipment.

The environmental regulations for mining came into force in March 2005 and, following an education and awareness campaign targeting the mining community, enforcement began.

These regulations will be strictly enforced in 2010, and beyond.

In addition, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission in its work programmes and activities over the years has long had a focus on improving gold and diamond recovery, and recovery of other economic minerals.

This focus had a dual purpose, to improve the economics and efficiency of the mining operations, with benefits accruing to environmental management through cleaner recovery methods; and, better ability to afford such environmental management.
 
Loggers X miners

The need to coordinate the mining and timber operations in Guyana’s forests was recognized more than twenty years ago.

The Government of the day moved in the direction of giving to the holders of Timber Sales Agreements (TSAs), the right to be provided notice of, as well as the right of 'first refusal' to, any proposed mining within the area covered by the Timber Sales Agreement (TSA). That direction was deemed to be unfair to miners, and the present administration managed to have those intended rights put in abeyance while gaining further experience on this potential conflict area. 
 
The potential conflict between mining and timber operations, however, did not go away, but has been intensifying through the last decade as world markets for timber insisted, more and more, that the timber come from certified forests.

It has been clear that the International Forest Certifying companies would prefer that there be no small- and medium-scale mining in forests to be certified. They have studiously avoided invitations to propose standard practices for small- and medium-scale mining which they would find acceptable.  

Over the last decade, the disparity between what is prescribed for timber operators and what miners can do, has been intensifying. Timber operators are required to develop inventories of all trees of a diameter greater than fourteen (14) inches at breast height, and are allowed to fell no more than six (6) to eight (8) trees, or eight (8) cubic metres, per acre, once every 60 years, or half of that allowable amount every 30 years. Thus, timber operators are virtually required to obtain pre-approval from the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) before felling any tree! On the other hand, miners have been allowed to continue felling trees as they have perceived the need.

Prime Minister Hinds says the proposed six months' notice of intention to mine, is not intended to give the GFC a veto in mining but, rather, it is meant to allow the GFC, and the timber operator, to integrate into their plans the clear felling which would accompany the intended mining.

With or without the LCDS, greater coordination between the timber and mining operations was required and, indeed, was inevitable, declared Prime Minister Hinds. 

 
Neil Marks has worked in the print and broadcast media in Guyana for the past 10 years, and has won several awards for stories on biodiversity, sustainable development, climate change and health.