Gov’t considers high-security facility for Gold Board lab  

Amid concerns about the “above normal” levels of mercury emanating from the Guyana Gold Board’s (GGB) laboratory, the Government is mulling the idea of setting up a highly secured facility to burn raw gold.

Concerns about mercury poisoning skyrocketed after reports that several staffers were infected. This caused employees of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) which is located in the same compound of the GGB to make strong demands for the lab to be removed.

Gold Board officials and Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman hosted a press conference Friday to assure that the situation is under control and that foreign experts are in the country conducting tests.

The tests were conducted by Kaizen Environmental Services along with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Some GY$300,000 has been spent on the first round of testing.

Chairman of the GGB, Gabriel Lall said the findings are so far “comforting” while Trotman urged that the report is made public.

All Gold Board employees who were exposed to mercury along with 130 GGMC staff were tested. It was disclosed that 60 persons from the GGMC were found with “above normal” levels of mercury but Minister Trotman said this could be as a result of consuming too much fish.

As such, he said further tests have to be conducted to determine if the levels of mercury in these individuals are as a result of the operations at the Gold Board lab.

To avoid this situation in the future, Trotman said there needs to be an “expert review” of the lab to determine how it could better function, where it should be situated, and needed scientific and other methodologies to ensure that safety comes first.