At this year’s National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat addressed the longstanding mining issue in Chinese Landing, Region One (Barima-Waini).
According to Bharrat, former Toshao Orin Fernandes was offered two mining blocks for village-led mining activities.
“The application is still pending at [the] Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), it is only for the Toshao or leader of Chinese Landing to go to GGMC now to complete that application,” the minister revealed.
He explained that this decision was made following representation by Toshaos in Region One.
In providing historical context, Minister Bharrat said that mining in Guyana has been ongoing for decades, long before the legal protections currently in place for Indigenous communities.
He explained that it wasn’t until the Amerindian Act of 2006, that Indigenous peoples were legally granted rights over their village lands. This legislation introduced a formal land titling process, through which Indigenous communities like Chinese Landing were able to gain legal ownership of their lands.
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat
However, Bharrat highlighted that before the passage of the 2006 Act, GGMC had already issued mining concessions to businessman, Wayne Vieira in Chinese Landing.
These mining blocks later became a point of contention, as they were within the boundaries of the land title granted to Chinese Landing.
“I don’t know what happened then,” Bharrat stated.
Adding: “But if I had the opportunity to be involved in the process, I would have excised that area out, like we are doing now because when we are issuing land titles today, we ensure that there are no encumbrances.”
In 2010, GGMC issued a Cease Work Order (CWO) against Vieira’s operation, because he was in violation of the Amerindian Act – mining without the community’s permission.
Vieira successfully challenged the decision to issue the CWO in the High Court where it determined that the order could only be issued in relation to breaches concerning the Mining Act and not the Amerindian Act.
This decision was then appealed and again Vieira won.
According to Bharrat, the government further took the case to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
The CCJ ruled in favour of Vieira’s rights to the mining concession in 2017.
“So, it is not as we as government or I as natural resources minister don’t want to act, but we are bounded by the law and we are compelled to act on the decision made by the CCJ in favour of Wayne Vieira in the Chinese Landing matter,” Minister Bharrat explained.
The Village Council then wrote the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), raising issues about environmental pollution and health risks the mining activities posed.
IACHR responded to the government to take immediate action and in August 2023, all mining operations in the area were suspended.
“We stopped all the mining, including Vieira,” Minister Bharrat said.
However, he further noted that the government options remained constrained due to the courts’ rulings.
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