Policy Forum Guyana objects to bauxite mining operation at Corentyne River

Policy Forum Guyana is objecting to the Government’s decision to establish a new bauxite mine in the Orealla, Corentyne River, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) area, on the grounds that it poses serious threats to the environment.
“Since the Corentyne River is the gateway to the New River Triangle, the proposed bauxite investment threatens the most pristine bio-diverse region in South America,” Policy Forum Guyana said in a statement.

Policy Forum Guyana is a network of civic organisations which aims to strengthen electoral, environmental and financial accountability in the country. The umbrella body said the State has a constitutional mandate to protect the environment for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures.

“How to respect and activate this provision demands a serious conversation framed by questions such as: should we be imposing annual caps on extraction of specific minerals? How can ownership of shared assets by Guyanese citizens be asserted more effectively?  How are Guyana’s commitments to the Paris Climate Accord to be harmonized with extraction?  What are the relevant guiding principles for respecting the rights of current and future generations in this area?  Until we address these questions the country will continue with the present course of transforming shared public assets into private wealth at a fraction of their value, under the illusion of ‘windfall profits’,” Policy Forum Guyana reasoned.

Further, it said as the Irfaan Ali Administration seeks investors for the new bauxite mine, it is important for the country to consider three factors – the colossal financial losses experienced across the extractive sector, the irrevocable bio-diversity and forests losses, and the “fact” that the Oil and Gas receipts will satisfy all the conceivable financial requirements for Guyana’s development.
Referencing to Guyana’s first Annual Report to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) covering 2017, the umbrella body said while the combined value of declared production of gold and diamond for 2017 was recorded as G$169.4 bn(USD.85bn), the Government receipts from the Guyana Gold Board, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the Ministry of Finance together amounted to G$17.461bn (USD837.8mn.), less than 10% of the total value of what was declared.

“In other words, 90% of the value of gold and diamond production was lost to the real owners, the Guyanese people,” it posited.
It added: “Since an estimated 50% of gold production is never declared, the above figures for lost value should logically be doubled. Moreover, the industry is also subsidized by small and medium-scale gold producers paying a flat rate of 2% income tax – compared to the 30% burden paid by other Guyanese workers.”

Broadening the scope to all of the extractive sector for that year (gold, diamond, bauxite, stone and sand), the Policy Forum said based on the GYEITI Report, the total receipts collected by Government from the sector as a whole amounted to a combined value of G$207.02bn(USD1.03bn). From that sum the amount accruing Government was G$20.8bn (USD.100mn), a miniscule 10% of over-all value, it posited.

“Sustaining these losses cannot be justified in terms of the benefits to the miners who do the work: the great majority of miners labour in hazardous conditions, without health or housing benefits or minimum safety standards.  Nor are there well-appointed housing schemes, good roads or public recreational spaces in Linden or Madhia, testifying to the wealth generated in these communities over decades. The beneficiaries are the few Guyanese who own licensing rights to vast numbers of claims leased to many ‘tributors,’” Policy Forum reasoned.

Further, it said the environmental destruction to rivers and forests cannot and ought not to be ignored. “The Benthik (bottom-dwelling) life of rivers, for example, has likely become extinct from decades of tailings over-lay, while the widespread use of mercury is poisoning rivers, miners and indigenous communities. A recent international research team led by Guyanese scientist, Michelle Kalamandeen, has confirmed that restoration of tree life on worked-out mine sites can never flourish,” it said.

It expressed disappointment that the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle which ought to be enforced on every mine-site has never been systematically enforced in Guyana. Further, it noted that ancillary costs to the environment such as access roads to mine-sites are accepted as a public subsidy rather than an investment cost to be absorbed by the industry.