D boost efforts to reverse environmental harm
vided a platform for these issues to be addressed.
Walrond agreed, stating that the government has been pushing for more inclusive interactions with the various agencies to make mining more sustainable in Guyana.
He revealed that GGMC has an active programme to demonstrate that the restoration of forests is possible. He detailed that they have been trying to restore the forest as close as possible to how it was before it was mined. He noted that they were able to convince miners to give up their claims despite the land potentially not being exhausted of its minerals and have done live demonstrations of rehabilitation of forests in those area so that the miners can see that the areas can be restored.
He noted, however, that this brings to the forefront the importance of gold recovery because, once feasible, miners will continue to mine in an area even if there is a slight possibility that there is no gold.
“We have done extensive work when it comes to mine site rehabilitation or reclamation. It is something we put on the forefront, especially in the Environmental Division right now where we are trying to get miners to utilise their area as much as possible and recover as much and this is why it is important to come up with different types of technology to include recovery so that when they are finished we can reclaim,” he said.
Primus and Bernard expressed agreement with Walrond’s statement, saying that if there is an increase in mineral recovery through the use of technology, then there will be an increase in reforestation and that recovery is key to addressing the challenges in the mining industry,
However, Bernard stated that proper exploration is vital to addressing the numerous challenges in the mining industry. “We first need to figure out where the gold actually is and then clear that area; remove the gold safely with technology that we can use to recover most of the gold from the ore and then we can actually reforest that area. The clearing is smaller…. Getting exploration right, the right technology to improve the rate of recovery is some of the biggest inputs that we can do right now to ensure that land can be easily and fully recovered,” he said.
Walrond made similar statements noting that proper exploration will be vital, especially for small and medium-scale mining where there is not an extensive amount of exploration done. He subsequently revealed that GGMC is trying to push more initiatives that will allow for more detailed exploration so that miners can limit the amount of forest needed to be cleared for mining. Once this is achieved, miners should have a better understanding of the mineral available and would be able to design a better mining plan, he said.
Walrond added that GGMC has strong regulations in place to combat the adverse effects of mining, especially where there are nearby communities, but effectively monitoring mining activities is still an issue.