| – GGMC Commissioner Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Rickford Vieira insisted yesterday that local banks have declined to manage its billion-dollar mercury-free testing fund. In the meantime, he said that it will remain in the Commission’s coffers until the way forward can be decided on.GGMC Commissioner Rickford VieiraVieira who was asked to comment on the status of the fund during an interview with this publication explained that it has not been spent as yet, but there have been a number of challenges.The GGMC Commissioner explained that local banks were approached to supervise the fund in the first place, because it is his belief that the Commission is not capable of managing it. Vieira said that the Commission was told that the banks have sufficient liquidity and thus do not see the need to manage the fund at this point, but will do so if they see it fit at a later time.“Apart from that aspect, there have been other challenges. You cannot give someone money to buy equipment without knowing if they will make a profit or not in their venture. So it really goes beyond just having the money available to buy equipment to support projects.We, at the Commission, have to ensure that there has been proper evaluation of the minerals in the ground before we can make monies available for the investment in the equipment for mercury-free testing. In fact, we have been doing some testing along with the miners’ association. Also important for one to consider is that the monies cannot be spent on equipment that would be deemed by some to be applicable for every area. That is the perception in some areas. But every area is different and would require certain equipment, so that in itself is another challenge,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale,” Vieira explained.The Commissioner said that one of the things, his agency is looking at is accessing a trammel screening device, and has made several strides in that regard.GGMC Chairman Clinton WilliamsVieira said, too, that the miners need to do more prospecting in addition to a feasibility study for their project, so that the Commission can see clearly where the investments will be going and at what rate profitability will be had.He added that the Gold and Diamond Miners Association had written to the Commission suggesting for the one billion-fund to be used to assist small miners in the current crisis, but noted that it is a call to be made by the government and the GGMC Board, which is chaired by Clinton Williams.The GGMC Commissioner emphasized that the fund has not been tapped into and noted that mercury testing is not mandatory.“To use mercury is a choice. If you don’t want to work with it, you don’t have to. It is not some special piece of metal that you cannot do without, it is just used to process the final concentrate of the gold and there are a hundred different metals that can be substituted for that method,” he added.Asked if in light of the various challenges, such as selecting the right equipment for the mercury-free testing, it is likely for the money to be earmarked for another purpose, Vieira said that he is not in a position to comment in that regard for the decision to do so lies with the GGMC board.In contrast to what the GGMC Commissioner insists,Cheap Jerseys Wholesale, Williams, during a brief interview with this newspaper yesterday said that the banks are waiting on them. He said that the Miners Association is still to decide on the appropriate equipment for the fund to be spent on and until that has been settled, then the way forward would be concretized.Secretary of the GGMC Board of Directors Jacques Foster in a letter to the media, stated that the use of mercury-free technology for the time being,Air Max Outlet Online Italia, is only in a testing phase,Nike Just Do It Scarpe Bianche, and that the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment had taken the proactive step of establishing a Mercury Free Mining Development Fund (MFMDF) given the commitment to the Minamata Convention which was supported by the GGDMA.Foster noted that in operationalizing the MFMDF, commercial banks and financial institutions were invited to submit proposals for the management of the $1 billion expenditure, “However, emanating from a meeting with the representatives of the financial institutions, was a request for the technical criteria that would be used in the evaluation of applications for funding.”The Board Secretary said that a Working Group comprising the Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (IAST), University of Guyana (UG), Guyana Mining School and Training Centre (GMSTCI) and the GGMC and GGMDA was established to undertake the identification and testing of alternative technologies and to make the necessary recommendations to the Board to guide the technical criteria required by the financial institutions.The Working Group to date, he stated,Cheap Football Jerseys College, has tested various technologies such as Gold Flotation, Knelson Concentrators, Shaking Tables, Gold Katcha and will be field testing the Spiral Concentrator. Also, Extensive field testing of these and other alternative technologies are being and will be undertaken.Regarding the recommendation by the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association for the monies to be dispersed to small miners in dire straits,Barry Larkin Jersey, Foster said that this approach was not deemed satisfactory to the Commission, given that it would not serve to develop the sector, but rather, provide short-term financing for operations; which was not the objective of the facility.In this regard, Foster said that the Commission sought to engage GGDMA on its position. He said that the Association subsequently withdrew its proposal for the distribution of the funds and reiterated its support to the ongoing efforts of the Commission to identify and test appropriate technologies and processes with the aim of eliminating the use of mercury and increasing gold recovery rates.“The Association is in agreement that the identification and testing of the various mercury-free and improved recovery processes is critical and necessary to avoid the wastage of scarce financial resources. Notwithstanding this, the importance of these alternative processes is well noted given the Minamata Convention and the current low recovery rate in the sector,WBC Jerseys,” Foster added.In October 2013 Government signed on to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, agreeing to ban the production, export and import of a range of mercury containing products by 2020. Mercury has been integrated into the gold mining process by miners for ages but not without consequence to the environment. |
