3.3.1. Guyana
Although quantitative researchers would dispute the value of the knowledge that can be gleaned from a single case, Flyvbjerg (2006) counters that to gain knowledge about the social world, it is necessary to gain detailed and textured knowledge about particular cases. The case study is thus used as a way of revealing important knowledge on the complex set of relations, processes and features that may help us to better understand general phenomena (Tight 2010).
Guyana, illustrated in Figure 3.1, was chosen as the country of study for this case because it offers some interesting new perspectives on small-scale gold mining reform in a geographical region – Latin America – that has received less attention in the literature. As a highly mining-dependent country, with as much as 70% of its export revenues coming from the extractives sector (and 50% of this from gold alone), Guyana is a country where mining sector reforms are likely to involve significant ‘trade-offs’ (Hirons 2011a). In recent years, Guyana’s uniquely large rainforest coverage (as much as 75% of its total land area) and its shrewd political leadership led to its participation in several major environmental initiatives, such as REDD+, which aim to re-orient forested countries’ economic pathways in line with emerging ‘sustainable’ norms by paying them for environmental services (Angelsen 2017). This case study thus offers an opportunity to examine how the classic tensions between development and environment play out in a resource-rich developing country; and if, and how, extraction can co-exist with ‘climate- conscious’ development. As ‘green’ ASM agendas are relatively incipient in policy circles – as well as academic analysis – this thesis also enables a closer look at how these strategies are articulating themselves in practice, and what impact they are having on land users.
Figure 3.1: Map of Guyana highlighted within South America
As its sector is dominated by small-scale operators who account for around 90% of the total operations and around 75% of the total gold produced, the case of Guyana is also a valuable opportunity to examine how a specifically small-scale- dominated gold mining sector is affected by reforms. In this sense, the findings will be relevant to scholars and policy-makers in other countries such as Ghana, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, and Cambodia, where a similar predominance of small producers defines the socio-economic and socio- ecological landscape. But whereas those countries are largely unregulated, Guyana’s more mature and formalized ASM sector offers a further valuable opportunity to examine how formal institutions play out in practice – and thus to test how the various warnings of the critiques bear out in reality. As Guyana’s mineral landscape is occupied by a large indigenous population, it also responds to various authors’ calls for more place-based studies on ASM generally, but particularly those that may offer an opportunity to understand better the dynamics of indigenous participation – and implication – in ASM (Hennessy 2015; Lahari-Dutt 2017).
Further to Guyana’s suitability as an object of research is my own suitability as researcher: as an Overseas Development Institute Fellow posted in Guyana between 2011 and 2014, I developed a thorough understanding of the country’s political economy and geography and built up a substantial list of contacts across public, private, and non-profit sectors that would facilitate the research process. Thus, as well as bringing what I believe to be a fresh methodological approach to this area of study, I also brought something of an ‘insider’ perspective.
3.3.2. Three case sites: Potaro, Maicobie, and Kangaruma-Tasserene
In an effort to gain ‘local’, sited-based perspectives on the interactions between policies and political ecologies that went beyond Georgetown-based narratives and counter- narratives, three case studies were selected. It was decided that examining three sites that represented contrasting tenure arrangements – State lands, Amerindian titled lands, and Amerindian untitled lands – as well as diverse social, political, cultural, economic, and geographical contexts, would offer valuable comparative insights on how formalization policies were experienced and perceived across different settings.
As mining in Guyana predominantly takes place on State lands (which comprise 85% of Guyana’s land area, whereas indigenous land comprises only 15%), it was decided that the extended case study on Potaro would provide a valuable opportunity to gain insights into the micro-practices of the mining sector and the possible implications for reform more broadly within Guyana’s State Mining Districts. The two studies of indigenous Amerindian villages – of Maicobie and Kangaurma-Tasserene – were located deep within Mining Districts and were implicated in mining activity in various ways. They would therefore offer an opportunity to examine how the complex of issues pertaining to mining reform – issues such as access to technology, state monitoring, and understandings of environmental issues – played out in the unique institutional and socio-cultural contexts of Amerindian communities. Because all three sites had also all experienced various ‘green’ reform initiatives (including land titling policies, mercury-free projects, and alternative livelihood initiatives), they were considered potentially valuable sources of information about the challenges, effects, and impacts of potential ‘green’ mining reforms – and were thus considered ‘instrumental’ cases (Lewis-Beck et al. 2004).
Figure 3.2: Map of case study sites
Source: Adapted by author from Ezilon.com
Case site 1: Potaro Mining District Case site 2: Maicobie Case site 3: Kangaruma/Tasserene
While the three sites were therefore chosen for their theoretical relevance, these particular sites were also chosen for more practical reasons. They were all relatively proximate to each other; access to miners and mining areas within Potaro was enabled through the Guyana Mining School and Training Institute (GMSTI) and Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), who also assisted with logistics; and access to the indigenous villages was facilitated by the Toshaos from the two indigenous villages who were both open and approachable.
3.3.3. Case site characteristics
This section will provide some more detail on each case site that highlights their suitability as choices.
Site 1: Potaro Mining District
As a result of the early exploitation of gold deposits by the British Guiana Mining Corporation around the township of Mahdia in the late 19th Century, Potaro Mining District, located in the heart of the country between the Mazaruni and Essequibo Rivers, was one of the first interior regions to be developed for mining (Lowe 2003). Figure 3.3 shows the part of the Potaro District around Mahdia that was the focus of this case study. As can be seen from the orange blocks (which represent medium-scale mining properties), the area is covered in mineral properties, and is also home to Kaieteur National Park, shaded in green, and several Amerindian villages, shaded in pink. The British built roads, bridges, a hydropower station, and an airstrip, and introduced a range of technologies in order to exploit the alluvial gold deposits that occurred in quartz veins and riverbanks. The area was subsequently developed in the 1960s by St Lucians who were drawn to the region by promises of gold and the mountainous landscape which they believed resembled their home country, as per Image 3.1.
Figure 3.3: Map highlighting Potaro District
Source: Adapted by author fromfrom Guyana GIM Unit portal. Accessed at http://data.gim.gov.gy/;
GGMC
Although mining properties have existed since the late 19th century, existing mining claims in Potaro district began to be documented from the 1950s, as illustrated in Figure 3.4. These properties have increasingly coexisted with other forms of tenure, such as Kaieteur National Park, which was created in 1929, and several Amerindian villages, Maicobie, Campbeltown, and Kaburi, which were all granted their titles in 2006.
Image 3.1: The Ebini Mountains from Mahdia
Figure 3.4: Small-scale claim applications by Mining District
Source: Adapted by author from GGMC
As Figure 3.5 shows, Potaro District has always been a major contributor to gold declarations. In the 1980s, in particular, there was significant river mining activity, and in the 1990s use of the ‘missile dredge’ became common on the Potaro River and its many tributaries. Despite the Cuyuni and Mazaruni Mining Districts taking over as the largest gold-producing regions – with the North-West district challenging Potaro for third place – Potaro has nonetheless continued to be a popular mining area due to the accessibility of the White Hole, Red Hole, and Saint Elizabeth mining areas that were auctioned to local miners in the 1980s following the departure of Canada’s Golden Star Resources.
Figure 3.5: Gold production by Mining District
Source: Adapted by author from GGMC 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Sm all -s cale claim s Year Berbice Potaro Mazaruni Cuyuni North-West Rupununi 0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 140000 G o ld p ro d u ctio n (o z. ) Year
In spite of local claims about reserves drying up, Potaro remains a popular destination for miners today, with one of the highest number of claims among all Mining Districts, as shown in Figure 3.6. This popularity stems from its relatively developed infrastructure, its relative accessibility (by road) from Georgetown (which make supplies cheaper than in other mining regions more dependent on river transportation), and the fact that Mahdia is a growing settlement that was recognized as a township for the first time in 2018.
Figure 3.6: Total small-scale claims in existence (2014)
Source: Adapted by author from GGMC
As well as being subject to national initiatives, the Mahdia area’s accessibility to Georgetown means that it is frequently the focus of various pilot programmes and studies, including major interventions related to the GENCAP programme (which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 5). Mahdia, whose main street is illustrated in Image 3.2, has also been a major centre of recent activity and agitation around the new syndicate policy, with several local syndicates forming and applying for land.
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Berbice Potaro Mazaruni Cuyuni North-West Rupununi
Sm all -s cale claim s Mining Districts
Site 2. Maicobie village
Maicobie is a titled Amerindian village located in the Potaro-Siparuni administrative district of Region 8, and also within Mining District 2, Potaro, as illustrated in Figure 3.7. The stretch of the Potaro River that runs through Maicobie is one of the oldest areas to have been mined in the country. Indeed, Image 3.3 below shows a British Guiana-era ‘bucket dredge’ that had been used in the early twentieth century but that was abandoned on the northern bank of the Potaro River near Maicobie by the British in the 1960s prior to Independence.
Image 3.2: Mahdia’s main street
Figure 3.7: Map highlighting Maicobie village
Source: Author
The village – which has a population of around 540 people, most of whom work primarily as miners – obtained its title in 2006, as illustrated in Figure 3.8, having unsuccessfully lobbied successive governments for several years. However, since 2006 it has been the site of low-intensity conflict between miners and community members over the legitimacy and impacts of mining activity – significantly related to the fact that pre-
Source: Adapted by author from GLSC
existing mineral properties appear ‘within’ Maicobie’s village title (Hilson & Laing 2017b).
Figure 3.8: A GLSC map of Maicobie’s titled area
Source: GLSC
Site 3: Kangaruma-Tasserene
Kangaruma-Tasserene is a currently untitled twinned indigenous village located in the Mazaruni-Cuyuni administrative district of Region 7, and also within Mazaruni Mining District 3. The village, whose location is illustrated in Figure 3.9, is a predominantly Akawaio indigenous community of around 300 people that received its land title in 2012, only for it to be immediately withdrawn. This situation, as well as the village’s relatively ‘traditional’ livelihood pathway – and its increasing inundation by mineral properties – have seen it receive media sympathy in recent years.
Figure 3.9: Kangaruma-Tasserene’s proposed titled area