Chinese Landing–Tassawini Toshao Nikita Miller has declined to travel for an emergency meeting requested by Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, saying she cannot leave the community while residents remain on round-the-clock guard against mining equipment they fear could be moved into the Tassawini backdam.
Speaking with Kiskadee Watch, Miller said yesterday that she had been asked to travel for the meeting but decided against it because of the continuing situation involving the equipment. “I decided not to go, because we are unable to travel because of the situation with equipment,” Miller said, explaining that residents were still maintaining their watch.
“The moment I turn from here everything will go into the backdam. My people need me here,” she expressed.
Residents have been taking shifts during the day and night to prevent the equipment from being moved into the area. Three excavators were recently taken to a barge and unloaded near another village after attempts were made to move them through a different route. Miller said she contacted the Toshao of that community, who intervened and stopped the operation, allowing the equipment operators to leave.
The machinery was subsequently parked at another location, but Miller said an excavator, a bulldozer and two dredge engines remain in the area.
Her decision not to attend the meeting comes in the face of an ongoing mediation process which began on August 13 involving the parties to the long-running dispute. She had written to the authorities on Monday requesting action over the equipment before being asked to attend the emergency meeting.
She also questioned whether meaningful mediation could take place while the community remains under pressure from the mining operation. “If you are in the mediation process this cannot be a fair and successful outcome,” she said.
In a letter dated August 26, the Chinese Landing Village Council said it had decided that its members could not leave the village while residents continue to protest the attempts to bring the mining equipment into Tassawini.
The Council said it remains willing to participate in mediation but argued that the process cannot produce a fair outcome where there is a power imbalance or undue pressure on one party. “As we said in an earlier letter, a mediation cannot have a fair and successful outcome when there is a power imbalance between the parties or there is undue pressure placed on one of the parties,” Miller stated in the letter.
The Council also accused the operators of attempting to find alternative ways to move the equipment after they were unable to reach the mining blocks through the Tassawini landing.
According to the Council, the operators moved barges to Kariako and attempted to bring the equipment in by road. The Council described the move as “not a show of good faith.”
The Council said it would not return to the mediation process until Vieira’s equipment is removed from the community’s land and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) can guarantee that all of his preparatory and mining activities at Tassawini have stopped.
Bharrat had told Kiskadee Watch earlier this week that the two sides are engaged in discussions facilitated by his ministry. “The two parties are in talks facilitated by the Ministry of Natural Resources to find a workable beneficial solution,” he shared.
The standoff intensified last week after residents blocked heavy-duty equipment linked to businessman Wayne Vieira from being transported into the community.
The Village Council said on August 21 that at least nine excavators, two bulldozers and several dredge engines had been brought into the area by barge. It said the equipment was brought into the village without notification to or permission from the local authority and that, to its knowledge, the machinery was registered to Vieira, who holds several disputed mining blocks within the community’s titled lands.
Residents subsequently maintained a continuous presence to prevent the machinery from entering the Tassawini backdam.
After four days of the standoff, three excavators were reportedly loaded back onto a barge, although an excavator, bulldozer and other equipment remained behind. Residents nevertheless stayed on alert amid reports that another route could be used to move the machinery into the titled lands.
The dispute has also involved long-running legal questions over the relationship between Chinese Landing’s land title and Vieira’s mining rights.
The Village Council’s land grant, issued during the administration of President Desmond Hoyte, was recorded in 1991 but states that it took effect from April 24, 1976. The document describes the land as being granted to the Village Council “absolutely and forever” for and on behalf of the Amerindian community occupying the area.
Vieira’s subsequent mining permits refer to lands that are “lawfully held or occupied,” while the Council’s title predates the mining rights at the centre of the current dispute.
The matter has previously reached the Caribbean Court of Justice. In 2010, the GGMC issued a cease-work order against Vieira on the basis that he did not have an agreement with the Village Council. The matter eventually reached the CCJ, which ruled in 2017 that the GGMC mines officer did not have the authority under the Mining Regulations to issue the cease-work order for a breach of the Amerindian Act.
The Village Council subsequently brought proceedings against Vieira and GGMC in 2021. The High Court dismissed the claim without a trial, ruling that the minerals beneath the lands were vested in the State and that Vieira did not require the village’s permission to access areas covered by his permits. The Council appealed, and Miller has said the appeal remains before the Court of Appeal.
The community has also raised concerns about the resumption of mining in the area following a government mining suspension imposed after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures in 2023.
The Council said mining resumed in March and that residents were informed during the July National Toshaos Council Conference that the ban had been lifted.
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