Guariche miners seeking legalization of their activities
Written by Dayana Hernandez P. / Photos by Guillermo Mora
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

More than a thousand workers could lose their direct livelihood of the decree specified expiration of the concessions of land where they work, miners meanwhile are seeking to legalize their activity to make it sustainable and contribute to the development of the State Mining is for many people a way to work, and for many families especially in the state of Bolivar a sole means of livelihood, because they are not recognized as a legal activity, some miners are struggling to achieve the legalization of this activity, which can be an economical alternative and bring development to the state.

The geologist David Marsden, consultant for a year the Artisans Cooperative Miners in the Municipality of Guariche Piar, with a view to achieving the legalization of activities to the authorities of the State and more specifically to the Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining, Mibam; this cooperative, brings together around 300 miners in southwestern The Manteco, working in the extraction of gold in veins through semi-mechanized systems manuals.

The geologist explained that although these workers occupy four years a concession call Triunfo I and II, belonging to the company Cominac, their situation remains illegal, and have made inquiries to various institutional bodies, without obtaining any response in a opportunity in 2007, were advised by the ministry, which annulled the agreement under which came together to function and urged them to deal with rental contracts, but to process them, the same ministry argues that they can not approve such contracts because they will expire concessions Cominac. Against this background, the chairwoman of the aforementioned coopertiva, Nelly Matute, charged that there are other concessions that are illegal, they do not have camps, or cancel taxes, and the ministry has not taken reprisals against them.

It is important to note that the revocation of the concession is not suitable for the mining sector, and while it is decreed, workers are in the air, without any guarantees, because they can not even devise plans for holding or seeking funding for improvements, because they do not have the legal floor that would require all financial project to improve the system of exploitation of mines. The interviewees agreed to expose the contradiction of the situation, argued for years that the ministry had ignored the demands of the miners, and now that there are solutions together with the concessionaire, is the lapse, "we suspect that the reason they are about 15 thousand tons of sand that are in the area, with tenors of up to 15 grams per tonne, a product of the primary grindings of small miners impact mills, it is presumed that this game is for the ministry to take over the sands, because forfeited to the concession, the law says that the sands and all that are in the hands of the state, and we believe that the appetite there is for the sands, "stressing that the miners will not allow the state appropriates its means of livelihood.

Nelly Matute pointed out that earlier claiming that the Ministry of continued state of lawlessness were not responsible for the stay of workers at the mine, "and now we go with that if they are to become responsible when we do not even know what is going to be our destiny ", it is important to note that with the steps that could be taken Mibam, would be affected more than one thousand direct employees and their families, not including workers indirect, for this reason, the interviewees made a call on the Minister Rodolfo Sanz, with whom Matute has already contacted several times, indicating that the holder's Mibam advisers who do not lead to reliable information, creating an ignorance of the situation of miners in the area, adding that what they are looking for workers is to achieve the transformation endogenous sustainable activity engaged in correcting the flaws in the design of policy for the organization and professionally qualified people who are aware of the problems of small-scale mining, without interest and thirst for political prominence "because the protagonists and only politicians involved to harm our work. "

It was explained that the Mibam should explore intended agreements and partnerships between cooperatives and dealers solvents with the state to bring a solution that would please both parties. Although they can not talk about profit margins, the chairman of the Cooperative Miners Craftsmen Guariche noted that although there is a status in relation Mibam that the mining in Bolivar state is subject to audit and control, they do not apply, " they do not, because they are not committed to the positions they hold in the on Guariche particular situation, they are going to collect taxes, but do not guarantee a sustainable business plan for people who are there, there is no guarantee of legality " .

Marsden added that the situation is the same for the rest of the mining sector, and despite this, these workers have heeded the calls of organizing the National Government to settle into cooperatives, Matute for his part, stressed that now that organized the ministry does not act , Adding that despite finding the owner of the portfolio committee on mines, the equipment that surrounds it is far from being so. For this reason, sought care from Mibam, "we are giving an ultimatum, or decides the ministry or we do."

Miners are committed

In one of those reported that the miners have been sent to inform the Minister Sanz, expressed their commitment to establish plans for recovery of environmental liabilities that include reforestation of areas, decontamination mercurial, reprocessing queue for the recovery of gold from residual equitable, "nothing is done to destroy tracks, evict miners from areas not leave, forfeited concessions to large corporations but transferred to others, would be the same with different musiú hubble-bubble." Similarly, they recommended to include a representation mining Mibam to organize meetings to discuss questions concerning the matter, activating areas for the development of small-scale mining law, such as: Flores 8, Chicano 32 and other geo-economic interest as those located in the left side of the border with Essequibo river Cuyuni and surrounding areas to Manteco (23,000 has been ordered suitable for small-scale mining).

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