Mahdia mines described as ‘moonscape’

Georgetown : The need to better preserve and to restore the environment was among the challenges noted by members of the Commission of Inquiry (COI), who recently completed an investigation into the death of miner Trenton Sebastian.

Chairman of the COI, Major General (ret’d) Joseph Singh, giving a synopsis of the investigation, highlighted some critical challenges facing the mining sector. The Chairman urged that action be taken to lessen the environmental impact caused by mining.

The area surrounding the Region Eight community was described as a “moonscape” by Singh as he called for sterner action.  “… since it is going to be a township in due course, the land there needs to be stabilized. Miners who occupy those areas need to do more. The Environmental Bond is ridiculous. It is $100,000, when the price of gold was $1800 dollars. They’re not interested because you keep the environmental bond and they move on and somebody else has to come and clean up the mess,” an upset Singh said.

Major General (ret’d) Singh also urged that sanctioned exploration for possible minerals deposits be undertaken soonest. “You can run the risk of doing land exploration and find they (miners) will come back there again. So I believe all of these challenges have to be dealt with,” the former Head of the Army said.

Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, who received the report of the COI, said that  the Government is committed to taking the necessary steps to improve not only the safety of mining but also its impact on the environment.

He noted that the challenges have gained the attention of the government. “It is something that came up in a meeting only as recently as last week during Cabinet. The issue of land reclamation, the bond being $100,000 dollars when the displacement and the degradation (cost) in the millions. The fact that our mining techniques are, we’re getting about 40 percent, if so high, of the gold that is in the ground. What this requires is a comprehensive approach that must include several agencies and ministries of Government,” Trotman said.

Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, will be holding several meetings across mining communities as part of the efforts to increase safety and boost the mining sector.