Kojak,Keep up the sound analysis - well done!Just one correction...

Kojak,

Keep up the sound analysis - well done!

Just one correction - the second death you mention at White Hole was not on Troy's tenements (which they mistakenly refer to as Whitehall), but at the White Hole open pit near Mahdia, a long way from Karouni.

There have been multiple cave-in deaths at this particular artisanal operation over the past 10 years, amongst a dozen or so annually on average.

Please see press below for a couple of examples.

IMO, there will be a competitive takeover bidding war for TRY in the next 18 months, and likely to go to the Chinese.

So get on board!

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Miners buried alive

KN - Mar 03, 2010 News

…as 75-ft deep pit collapses

Twominers were buried alive at around 13:00 hrs yesterday, after the walls of a75-foot deep pit caved in on them at White Hole, Mahdia.

Policeidentified the victims as 35-year-old Jamaica-born Rohan Hibbeizt, called‘Jamakey’ who resides at Long Creek, Soesdyke/Linden, and 32-year-old KarranRoopnarine of Triumph, East Coast Demerara.

Thegeneral manager of the camp told Kaieteur News that rescuers, using a ‘jethose’ took over two hours to retrieve the bodies.

Hesaid that five other crewmen were in the pit but they managed to scramble tosafety. He explained that Hibbeizt and Roopnarine were several feet lower thanthe other miners when disaster struck.

Accordingto the manager, the two men were drilling further into the pit when one of thewalls suddenly collapsed. They were pinned under several tons of earth.

“Theland loose…it came down so fast that they could not get out,” he said. “Thestuff (earth) brace them into the wall.”

Policesaid that rescuers used a dredge and an excavator to dig out the bodies.According to the manager, they also used a jet hose to remove earth that was“as high as a house”.

Thebodies were taken to the Mahdia Hospital mortuary at around 19:00 hrs.

Severalminers have perished in this manner over the years and mining officials haverepeatedly expressed concern about the inadequate safety measures at miningconcessions.

Miner killed inpit cave-in

By Stabroek News

December 11, 2015

A miner was killed yesterday morningafter a pit cave-in at the White Hole/Red Hole area, near Mahdia, Region Eight.

The deceased has been identified asTerry Lobert, who was part of a six-man crew that was working in the mined-outpit when it caved in.

Stabroek News was told that one ofthe miners saw the wall beginning to cave in and yelled out to the others. Inthe commotion, five miners managed to escape and soon realised that Lobert wasnot with them.

They quickly began digging by handin the area where they thought Lobert might have been buried. A nearbyexcavator was subsequently brought to the scene to assist in the digging. Theefforts, however, proved futile.

The cave-in occurred atapproximately 9.30 am.

Stabroek News was told that JuniorSocial Protection Minister Simona Broomes and a labour department team that isin Mahdia visited the site of the cave-in and found that the incident was theresult of negligence. As a result, the owner of the operation may face chargesfor safety violations.

Stabroek News understands that sincethe pit was already mined-out, it was incredibly unstable and that operationsshould not have been ongoing at the site.

The dredge owner was taken intopolice custody but was later released after being questioned.

The ministry and the Guyana Geologyand Mines Commission (GGMC) will be investigating the cave-in.

The GGMC, in a statement, said theaccident follows on the heels of several publications on mines safety in theweekend print media and on GGMC’s weekly radio programme.

“The heightened awareness that thefield officers for GGMC have attached to safe mining practices have been wellreceived by all the operations/operators visited but the sustained awareness atall levels must be observed if these types of occurrences are to be avoided,”it said.

“The GGMC calls on all miners to becautious and aware of the typical hazards in mining and to follow mining andsafety regulations to bring an end to these unnecessary accidents,” it added.

The Commission noted that thisspecific area was among those targeted for inspection after the accident in Mayat Konawaruk, Region Eight that resulted in the death of 10 men and seriousinjuries to seven others.

On assuming office, the APNU+AFCgovernment had commissioned an inquiry into pit collapses and its findings werereleased. Steps were to have been taken to avoid recurrences.

Sixty-twomen lost their lives in the mining sector during the years 2010 to 2015, with28 deaths occurring in the fifteen months up to September this year.

In many cases it was found that insteep or high wall pits there was poor ‘benching’ or no benching in some cases.Open-cast mines are dug on benches, which describe vertical levels of the holevery similar to the various levels used in terrace farming to prevent erosionson steep surfaces.

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